Frozen: Bloodlines
by imabench
Summary: Kristoff proposes to Anna, but before they can marry, scholars have to examine the bloodlines of the couple as tradition mandates. However, Anna is ginger, Elsa is blonde, and their parents are blond and brunette, leading those scholars to conclude that Anna and Elsa aren't truly sisters! The gang sets out to prove otherwise, but discover something far more sinister in the process
1. Premise

I couldn't fit everything into the space they allow for the description so let me better clarify what this story is about here without giving away any big spoilers :

\- Kristoff proposes to Anna, causing everyone in the kingdom to rejoice. After the wedding date is set though, royal scholars are ordered to investigate the bloodlines of Kristoff and Anna as royalty, since it's tradition for scholars to review the bloodlines of the groom and bride before a royal marriage is held.

\- Kristoff is found to not be of royalty, as expected, but that isn't a big problem. What IS a big problem is that when the scholars investigate Anna and Elsa's bloodline, they come to believe that Elsa and Anna _aren't truly sisters._

\- You see, Elsa is blonde. So blonde that her hair is arguably white, but Anna is a ginger, and undeniably ginger as well. Blonde and ginger are _both recessive genes_ for hair color... Since the King and Queen before them had brown hair (mother) and blonde hair (father), the scholars come to the conclusion that Elsa is royalty, but that Anna is NOT royalty, and is only Elsa's half sister, _**since it's impossible for a completely blonde father and a brunette mother to have a ginger child.**_

\- Elsa and Anna set out to prove that the two of them are indeed sisters and that Anna is royalty, with Kristoff and Olaf coming along to assist them. The gang is once again plunged into a very dangerous journey as they all try to help each other, but upon visiting the trolls for assistance, they all discover that the truth may be far worse then what they could have imagined, and the only place that holds the answer...

... Is the Southern Isles


	2. Chapter 1

Just a quick warning to all the readers, I cannot stick to a regular update schedule to save my life. I know some people manage to add a new chapter once every week without fail, but I am NOT one of those people. Some days I can post a new chapter every 3 days 5 times in a row, other times it takes me a month just to post a new chapter. Its just who I am, so I apologize in advance for my horrendously random posting schedule.

I also am not very good with grammar, and I make simple mistakes a lot. I apologize for that as well.

* * *

"Hey. Hey Olaf. Pssst! Olaf!" Kristoff whispered out loud, peeking around a tree he was hiding behind. He was trying to stay hidden from Anna for the moment, seeking advice from Olaf of all people since he didnt know anybody else to turn to. Kristoff had been living in the castle for four months now, but he didnt care to expand his circle of friends during that time, and the only other guy who could actually talk to, as in ACTUALLY have a 2 way conversation with, was Olaf.

"Olaf!" - Kristoff almost yelled, still trying to get Olaf's attention. He was staring at something on the ground, absolutely entranced by whatever he was he was looking at. It wasn't until Kristoff hurled a very large rock, one that was much larger than the two pebbles he had thrown towards Olaf before, did he manage to get Olaf's attention.

He also took his head clean off.

"WHAT. WHO'S THERE. ANNA? ELSA?... God?" - Olaf

"No Olaf its me." Kristoff sighed, his attempt at being stealthy failing.

"... God?" Olaf asked, still confused.

"Not really" Kristoff sighed, putting Olaf's head back onto his body and rearranging his face to what it was before.

"Oh hi Kristoff! You won't BELIEVE who I was just talking to" - Olaf

"Probably not. Can I talk to you about something real quick?" - Kristoff

"Well not right now, look at this thing I found! Isn't it amazing!?" Olaf said, forcefully grasping Kristoff's face and pointing it towards what he had been staring at before.

It was an acorn...

"Olaf, that's an acorn" - Kristoff

"I know! Isn't it amazing?" - Olaf

"There's literally millions and millions of them in the world" - Kristoff

"Where do you think it came from?" - Olaf asked, still infatuated with the small seed

"A tree, would be my guess" - Kristoff

"No, too simple. I bet it came from something like... Like... LIKE A DRAGON!" - Olaf

"A Dragon? They don't exist Olaf" - Kristoff

"Sure they do, I was just talking to God like a minute ago before you showed up." - Olaf countered

"Look Olaf can I talk to you about something?" - Kristoff muttered, losing his patience

"Sure buddy, what's up?" - Olaf

Kristoff took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"I'm trying to think of ways to propose to Anna, and I'm kind of stuck." - Kristoff

"You're kind of stuck? Well how does that work are you stuck or are you not stuck, its a yes or no question really" - Olaf.

"I AM stuck, Olaf" - Kristoff said, growing annoyed. "I can't think of any good, unique ways to pop the question" - Kristoff

"What question?" - Olaf

"That I would like to marry her" - Kristoff

Olaf gasped, "Youre going to marry Anna? Does she know yet? LETS TELL HER! HEY ANNA!" Olaf yelled, running towards the castle.

"No!" Kristoff yelled, tackling Olaf to the ground and subsequently crushing him under his weight.

"Kristoff, you lard, you broke my spine!" Olaf wheezed once Kristoff got off of him. He lay flattened against the pavement that only had half an inch of snow covering it, looking like a gigantic snowy pancake with eyes and a nose.

"Sorry! Sorry. I'm sorry, here" Kristoff said, nervously scooping chunks of Olaf back into his snowman form.

Olaf pulled himself back together and began molding himself back into his old form, as Kristoff did a very lackluster job in reassembling him.

"So, why are you telling me this if you don't want me to tell her?" - Olaf asked.

"I'm not telling you this so that you can ask her, I'm telling you because I need help figuring out a way how to ask her. One that will be nice and romantic and something she'll remember forever" - Kristoff said, sitting down next to Olaf.

"Why don't you write her a poem?" - Olaf wondered out loud

"A poem? I'm not really that, 'gifted', when it comes to showing my feelings, or being romantic" - Kristoff replied, dismissing the idea.

"I can help you!" Olaf happily said, getting to his feet. "With my words, and your ability to write things, together we can make the perfect proposal poem for Anna!"

Kristoff groaned, as Olaf tugged his arm into the castle.

* * *

"RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE" - Anna yelled, after jumping out from behind a corner at Elsa to scare her. After it was discovered on her birthday that every time Elsa sneezed she would make tiny little snowmen, called 'snowgies', Anna had started experimenting on Elsa to see what other things could trigger her to do the same thing. Scaring her was one of those things, and every time Elsa was scared, not knee-shakingly scared, just startled, she would make 3 or 4 snowgies appear. Anna came to love the little guys that Elsa would inadvertently create, she liked to refer to them as 'her babies'

"Anna don't do that!" - Elsa responded angrily. Anna got such a kick out of scaring her but Elsa hated being scared like that. She let Anna mess with her because she was her sister though. Had Olaf or Kristoff been the ones scaring her, she would have punted them halfway to the summit of the North Mountain.

"But its so much fun! And look at these little cuties!" Anna exclaimed, scooping up the three snowgies that Elsa made after being scared. "They're so cute! They're like little snow babies!" She added, planting a kiss on each of them. They didn't ever talk, or grow up, and essentially they stayed mischievous little munchkins forever, which is probably why Anna loved them so much.

Elsa recollected herself and smiled. Even though Anna messed with her, it was much better then shutting her out like she had to do in the past, and so she welcomed the occasional scare from Anna that came once every few days, attributing it to just something sisters like to do to each other... Elsa had once pulled a trick on Anna by letting Marshmallow be her alarm clock for a day, scaring the daylights out of her when she woke up. Elsa immediately felt bad about it, but Anna laughed about it so much that she immediately forgave Elsa, and even comforted her whenever she began to feel guilty about it.

That still didn't stop her from scaring Elsa on a regular basis though.

"What should I name them? I'm thinking this one will be Harry, this one can be, um... Paul!... Yeah,And this one..." - Anna

"...Anna..." - Elsa

"Nah I was thinking 'Jasmine' or something with a J... Janna, Jistoff, Jolaf, Jelsa... Oh I like Jelsa!" - Anna

"Anna don't you have to be getting ready for a certain something?" - Elsa politely interrupted her.

"Nnnnnnnnot that I know of" - Anna said, wracking her memory as the snowgies tried to escape from her clutches

"You have your picnic trip with Kristoff in about an hour" Elsa reminded her

"Oh that. OH. Oh THAT. Oh! Right! Thanks Sis! You're the best!" Anna realized, giving Anna a bear hug before running off down the hall. Elsa smiled as she watched her run off, before letting her gaze drift towards the picture of her parents that hung on the wall.

One week ago was the four year anniversary that they had sailed off and never returned, and while rekindling her sisterhood with Anna had filled that massive hole in her heart, she still felt half-empty inside. She missed her mom and dad so, so much. She only ever wanted to make them proud and happy when she was growing up, and not think of her as some kind of monster. She always reassured herself that they would be proud of who she was now, but still, she missed them so much.

* * *

After Kristoff dropped some supplies on the floor, Olaf picked up a pencil and promptly started writing out the first poem he could think of. Kristoff hadn't even sat down when Olaf had finished, and he read the card when Olaf crammed it in his face. It read:

_Roses are red,_  
_Violets are blue,_  
_I'm not very good at writing poems_  
_Acorns are cool._  
_Will you marry me?_

"What do you think?" Olaf asked, beaming from his creation as if he had just made a prized ice sculpture.

"That's a good start, but let's keep trying" Kristoff replied, wincing at how corny the poem was.

After several more attempts at writing out a poem, both Olaf and Kristoff arrived at the agreement that both of them had the romantic capacity of a used shovel. They thought of other ways that Kristoff could romantically pop the question, but that effort was just as fruitless as well. Even when they went into the stables to consult with Sven, they couldn't come up with anything.

"AAGH" Kristoff yelled out in frustration, laying back onto a stack of hay behind him in anguish. "I'm never going to be able to think of something... The picnic is not even an hour away and I've got nothing."

"Probably not" Olaf said, laying down next to him and preparing to take a nap. "What do you think Sven?"

Sven, wearing a worried look on his face, had his dialogue improvised by Kristoff.

_"You could always think of something in the future, you don't have to propose today"_ Kristoff improvised

"I've been putting this off time and time again out of nervousness, if I don't do it today I might not ever be able to do it" - Kristoff

_"But you'll never think of something in time for the picnic. You still haven't even put together the picnic basket yet" _

"But Sven I-" Kristoff started, before realizing it. "Oh no. I forgot to put together the food!"

He leapt to his feet and bolted towards the castle, Olaf by some miracle managing to keep up behind him.

"Don't worry Kristoff! I'll help you make it! I'm a food expert! My nose is a carrot!" Olaf yelled out to him.

* * *

The two burst into the kitchen and quickly began to raid the food storage, with both of them explaining to the confused chefs around them that they were putting together a picnic basket and to leave them be.

"Okay. Bread? check. Cheese? Lots of it. Fruit? Yeck, but check." Kristoff said to himself, keeping a tally of everything

"Desserts! Don't forget the desserts!" Olaf called out, after attempting to shove a t-bone steak into the basket.

"Chocolates! Of course... Olaf put that back!" Kristoff said, opening up the dessert pantry.

Olaf, forgetting where he got the steak from, opted to instead throw it out an open window.

He missed, and the steak ended up sticking to the wall right next to the window he was aiming for.

"That actually is quite decorative right there" Olaf said to himself, eying the steak on the wall as if it were a painting. "Hey Kristoff! What are you gonna do about the proposal?"

"I dunno, I'll just have to wing it" - Kristoff called out as he stuck more food into the basket.

"OH! You should ask Elsa if she has any advice! She's real in touch with her feelings and stuff right?" - Olaf said, stuffing a jar of cucumbers into the basket.

"Olaf take those out, Anna hates cucumbers" Kristoff yelled, intrigued though by Olaf's Elsa idea.

"But I like them!" - Olaf

"Just pack stuff that ANNA would like, I need to go talk to Elsa" - Kristoff said, making his way out the door to go find Elsa.

Olaf accepted his mission.

"Stuff that Anna would like... Stuff that Anna would like..." He whispered to himself, eying everything in the kitchen. "Does Anna like Spoons?" He asked, eyeing the silverware. "Spoons...Spoons... Spoooooooooons. What a funny word!"

He packed 10 spoons.

"What else would Anna like?... What, would Anna, like?"

(Cue upbeat musical notes, feel free to tap your foot as you read the next lines)

* * *

"Forks and knives, utensils and spoons  
So shiny they all, look like Spanish doubloons!  
So fancy and nice, they're all a delight,  
And I must pack things, that Anna would liiiiiike"

(Music continues as Olaf makes his way all around the kitchen, stuffing various types of things into the basket)

"Spinach and greens, are nasty and evil,  
Like that one time I almost, swallowed a needle.  
Oh what an ordeal, what a terrible plight,  
I should only pack things, that Anna would liiiiiike!"

"Bananas and apples, do grapes count as fruit?  
They are green and squishy, and they're good for you to!  
They're a nice thing to have, if you go on a hike,  
I'm sure they are things that Anna would liiiiiiike"

"Fish are scaly. Tasty! but smelly.  
And Anna doesn't like things ickyyyyyy  
A big fish is handy, to swing in a fight  
But I can only, pack things, that Anna would liiiiiike!"

"Chocolates and sweets, they all look so neat!  
And Anna certainly has, a sweet toooooooooth  
I'll pack them some more, they can eat them all niiiiiiiight!

(He pauses)

For I may only pack things, that Anna would liiiiiiike"

(music gets faster, tap foot twice as quick)

"Cheeses 'n Peaches  
Picked straight from the beaches.

Cherries and berries?  
The more the merry!

I'll throw in some drinks,  
But nothing that stinks.  
Refreshing like Lemonade,  
Tasty like Gatorade

If everything here,  
goes perfectly right  
Then this will be,  
A really big niiiiiiight..."

(Pace dramatically slows)

"Because these all - are - things - that - An - na - wo - uld..."

(Pauses and takes a deep breath, switches to opera voice)

"LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE"

* * *

Kristoff barged into Elsa's study, where she handled her duties as Queen of Arendelle. He barged in with such force that Elsa flinched, gasping and causing two more snowgies to appear.

"Kristoff!" - Elsa yelled, mildly annoyed. She began to shoo the snowgies out of her study as they jumped over all the furniture in the room, sending papers flying left and right.

"Sorry! Im sorry! Sorry! Im just. Sorry! Can I talk to ya real quick?" - Kristoff said, booting one of the snowgies out of the room like a soccer ball while the other one chased after it.

"Its fine, what did Olaf do this time?" Elsa asked, folding her arms.

"What? No, not him. I need your help with Anna" - Kristoff

"What? Whats wrong?" Elsa asked, suddenly growing worried, fearing Anna may be hurt.

"Well, I'm going on a picnic with her today and, well, I'm going to pop the question..." Kristoff started.

Elsa's mood swung wildly as she went from worry to complete confusion to realization all within a microsecond, she grew slightly dizzy just absorbing what Kristoff told her. Kristoff had asked her in the past for her blessing, which she reluctantly gave, only for Kristoff to never actually get around to proposing to Anna. Her mind felt like someone just opened up 27 tabs on the internet and that 10 of them were playing music.

"Oh, kay? Ok... Good... I, uh... I wish you the best" Elsa stammered, trying to sound supportive while hiding her surprise.

"The thing is I'm not sure how to do it. I want it to be romantic and memorable, something unique and something she would totally love." Kristoff clarified.

"And you didn't have this planned out before because...?" She asked, a little annoyed at how unprepared Kristoff appeared to be for what would be a HUGE moment in her sister's life.

"I can't think of anything! Elsa believe me I've stayed up day and night over and over trying to think of something that would be perfect, but I'm not a really romantic guy who is in touch with his feelings and, stuff... I got nothing, and I want it to be special" - Kristoff

Elsa sighed "Kristoff, you're focusing on the wrong goal here. Which is more important, proposing to Anna, or actually being married to her?"

"Actually being married to her" Kristoff replied immediately.

"That's right. Don't worry about making the proposal special and over the top Kristoff, just tell her how you feel about her and then ask her. You're overthinking it." - Elsa

"But what if she wants a special proposal and says no if I don't give her one?" - Kristoff

Elsa almost rolled her eyes. "Three things. 1) Anna is not that shallow. 2) She loves you 100% and will definitely say yes if you propose to her, no matter how modest it may be. And 3) Hans managed to get Anna to say yes, and he was a huge d-"

"Don't you think thats oversimplifying it?" Kristoff interrupted her before she could finish.

"Women are complex, sure, but just because we are hard to figure out sometimes, it doesn't mean that everything about us is complex... You're just over thinking this and getting worried over nothing. Tell her how you really feel about her, and then pop the question after that." Elsa finished, seeing the look of hopelessness in Kristoff's eyes fade away and be replaced with a newfound sense of understanding and confidence.

"Alright... Yeah that sounds good. I'll do that." Kristoff said, smiling.

"Good... You were supposed to set out 10 minutes ago" Elsa remarked, glancing at the clock on the wall.

Kristoff looked at the time, panicked, thanked Elsa, and scrambled out the door.

* * *

Olaf dragged the overflowing picnic basket along the floor towards the front doors so that Kristoff could get pick it up on the way out. He also decided to slip the card he had made (the one about acorns and not being good at writing poems) into the basket, just in case Kristoff couldn't think of a way to pop the question and needed some 'inspiration'.

Kristoff sprinted around one of the corners of the hallway full speed, almost plowing into a table holding a flower vase, before making his way towards the front door. Not even half a second after he arrived, Anna threw open the doors from the outside of the castle, where she was greeted by Kristoff and Olaf.

"You look lovely today" Kristoff said, trying to hide his panting.

"I'm sorry I'm late! I had to finish getting dressed and check on the horses real quick... I hope you weren't waiting too long" - Anna said, apologizing for her tardiness while being oblivious to the fact that Kristoff had been just as tardy.

"Oh I wasn't waiting that long" - Kristoff

"Here's the picnic basket, you guys have a fun date!" - Olaf said, shoving the picnic basket against the side of Kristoff's leg, who picked it up effortlessly. "Remember to watch out for wolves... And birds! ESPECIALLY BIRDS!" he added

"We'll be alright Olaf, you stay here and just try to light anything on fire" Kristoff called out, as he and Anna made their way towards the stables.

Olaf rolled his eyes. "I set something in the castle on fire TWO times and suddenly thats all you ever talk about..." He muttered to himself, taking Kristoff's remark personally.

Olaf opened the door to the castle, and the two snowgies that Elsa had created earlier ran out of the palace, much to Olaf's delight. He promptly began chasing them around the castle courtyard after closing the doors behind him, his bad mood vanishing in a literal instant. Elsa watched Anna and Kristoff set off from high up in the castle, wondering if he'll finally pop the question. Part of her was hoping he would, but part of her was hoping she wouldn't. She had finally gotten her sister back from the isolated life she lived so long, so she was nervous about potentially losing her again because someone else swooped into her life.

Snow began to fall in the room, and Elsa gasped, realizing that she her distress were causing her powers to show. She quickly walked away from the window and distracted herself with random duties she had to handle as Queen.


	3. Chapter 2

"Hey random question, why is it that you didn't bring Sven with us this time?" Anna asked, as she and Kristoff rode palace horses up the mountain. They were going to spend the day at the pond they came across when searching for Elsa during the 'big freeze', the one that was frozen over at the time where they came across Olaf for the first time. It was just as beautiful and lovely during the summer as it was during winter, and Kristoff decided to make it the site where he would pop the question.

"Sven? Oh... Yeah... He's uh... He's kinda annoyed at me at the moment, and wasn't really in the mood to go on a picnic with us" Kristoff made up. He actually didnt bring Sven because he wanted it to just be him and Anna, and also because there was a 30% chance Sven might somehow spoil it for him, since Kristoff had spent lots of time 'arguing' with Sven about how to propose to Anna.

"Is it because you tried to make him take a bath again?" Anna guessed

"Hey if I have to bathe regularly then so does he" Kristoff lied, smiling about the last time he actually did have to give Sven a bath. The poor thing ended up looking like a poodle by the end of it, and Sven now when completely out of the way as much as possible to avoid having to be bathed again, even sneaking out of the castle at times to avoid baths.

The dup arrived at the pond much to Anna's delight, and they promptly began setting up their picnic. Kristoff began to practice gestures for how to present the ring to Anna behind her back. The ring he bought was one he managed to purchase using just about his entire salary he had collected as the 'official ice master and deliverer'. It was a great ring, nice sized diamond on a silver band, and Kristoff was proud of himself for it, almost as much as he was at somehow convincing Anna and Elsa that he was actually spending his money on 'business ventures' for his ice business that never panned out.

He had the ring, he had the scene, and it was him and Anna. Now he just had to make sure that nothing would screw it up.

"Why did you pack so many spoons?" Anna asked in confusion, holding eight of the ten spoons that Olaf had shoved into the basket earlier in the day during his big musical number.

"What? Oh. Olaf probably put them in there..." Kristoff stammered, unaware of what all Olaf stuck into the basket.

He had no idea that the card Olaf had made was also in the basket, or that Anna came perilously close to finding it as she searched for anything resembling a sandwich.

"Olaf packed the basket? Geez he packed enough food to feed the whole town for a month" - Anna

"Yeah but he wanted to help. You know how he is" - Kristoff

The two sat down on the blanket and proceeded on munching on what they pulled out of the picnic basket first. Anna a sandwich, and Kristoff some meats. The conversation was casual at first, nothing out of the ordinary, and the two just took in the sounds of nature around them in between their chewing.

"So what's the deal?" Anna said, after swallowing a large bite of sandwich. "You normally bring me to this spot when you need to ask me something."

Kristoff froze. Anna was right, Kristoff often brought Anna to this particular spot on picnics when he wanted to ask her something. It was here where he felt the most comfortable when he wanted to ask Anna something, like if he could sleep in the stables with Sven rather then have his own room in the castle, or if he really had to bathe every night.

Now Anna was starting to figure it out.

"Umm, maybe?" Kristoff stalled, still unsure of how to pop the question. He calmed himself down and remembered Elsa's advice.

"Hey Anna, can I just, say something?" he started, as Anna reached into the basket for a quick goodie.

"Technically you just did" She smirked

"Can I ask you something else?" he asked, the nervousness in his heart and his voice noticeably increasing.

"You just did again!" Anna smiled, fighting a laugh. Olaf had pulled that trick on her recently, and she thought it was so great that she decided to try it on Kristoff the first chance she got. She continued to rummage through the picnic basket.

_'Dangit Kristoff, just do it you baby'_ He thought to himself. He took a deep breath, and took the plunge.

"Anna, you know that you mean the whole world to me, and that I love you more then just about anything else." He started, choosing his words very carefully but at the same time speaking from the heart. "I know the first thing I ever said to you was 'carrots' at Oaken's trading post, but if I wasn't such a dunderhead at the time, I would have told you how beautiful you are, how pretty you looked, how you were doing that day..."

"Roses are red, violets are blue..." Anna interrupted him. She had found Olaf's card while Kristoff was talking, not entirely listening to what he was saying.

Kristoff turned around in confusion and saw Anna holding and reading from the card.

"I'm not very good at poems... Acorns are cool..." She went on.

Kristoff's eyes widened and he freaked out. As if being struck by lightning, he sprung right next to Anna and swiped the card out of her hands before she could keep reading.

"THAAAAAAAAAAT is, nothing. Its, not even mine. I'm just, holding it, for a friend" - Kristoff stammered, hiding the card behind his back as he profusely tried to come up with an excuse.

A devilish grin snuck over Anna's face though. She thought that Kristoff made the card as an attempt at being romantic, but chickened out at the last moment. She was hellbent on reading the rest of the poem.

"Oh come on lemme see it!" She pleaded, reaching around to try to grasp the card.

"NO! No... I mean... No. It's... I'ts not that good... Like its REALLY not that good, terrible to be honest. Not even fit to be read with human eyes" Kristoff said, desperately trying to keep the card away form her as she struggled to snatch it back from him.

"Come on lemme see lemme see lemme seee-hee-hee-heeeeeee" Anna pleaded, resorting to almost climbing over and around Kristoff to try to get to the card.

"Lets have some dessert!" Kristoff exclaimed, trying to derail Anna's attention. The tactic didn't work at all though. As Kristoff tried to rummage through the picnic basket for a piece of chocolate, Anna used the temporary distraction to rip the card right out of Kristoffs hand and scurry away with it.

"Roses are red" she started, reading the card from the beginning.

"Anna no!" Kristoff said, tackling her to get the card.

"Violets are blue!"

Anna was pinned to the ground, but she flung and kicked her legs around wildly to keep Kristoff at bay while she continued to read the card. Kristoff was kicked in the shin, the throat, and right on the chin as Anna read on.

"I'm not very good at poems," She continued

_'desperate times call for desperate measures' _Kristoff thought to himself.

He looked at Anna, whom he loved more than anyone else in the entire world, and knew what had to be done... Kristoff realized that the only thing he could do to get the card back at this point was to do the one thing Anna absolutely hated, the one thing she despised more than anything else in the whole world, the thing she explicitly warned Kristoff several times in the past to not ever do EVER or else he would be as good as dead...

_He was going to have to tickle her_

Anna was extremely ticklish. Simply poking her in the side above her waistline but below her ribs would send her to the ground laughing. The sides, the armpits, the neck, the throat, her feet... Even her knee's were ticklish, and if someone tickled her she would twist as if she was having an epileptic seizure.

"KRISTOFF NO" Anna yelled, as he began tickling her. She squirmed wildly, like a fish flopping around on the ground trying to get back into the water. Her legs and arms flung about wildly though, keeping Kristoff from being able to grab the card out of her hand while tickling her at the same time.

She wriggled herself free and managed to keep going. "ACORNS ARE COOL" She yelled. She was more determined than ever to read the poem, despite the tickle onslaught she was receiving from Kristoff.

He decided to tickle her neck, which risked his own fingers being broken, but it was a sacrifice he would have to make. He got one hand in between her shoulder and her cheek and dug into her neck with it, causing her to laugh and squirm uncontrollably. Kristoff figured that If he could just tickle her long enough, she would exhaust herself from laughter and surrender the card.

He underestimated Anna's will though. In an attempt to free herself, Anna spotted the jar that carried the pepper, grasped with one hand.

_And flung all of the pepper inside into Kristoff's eyes_.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Kristoff screamed, immediately releasing Anna as both of his hands started rubbing his eyes. They had been wide open when they were blasted with Pepper, and his eyes immediately became red, itchy, irritated, and painfully blinded. He rolled around on the ground trying to clear his eyes as Anna read the poem as fast as she could.

"Roses are red violets are blue I'm not very good at poems acorns are cool will you marry me" Anna read out loud, going as fast as she could.

The last line threw her off, and she repeated the last line to herself out loud and in her head several times as they meaning of the words sunk in...

Kristoff ceased rolling around on the ground, as he had removed enough of the pepper from his eyes to not be in crippling pain anymore. Right when his vision began to return to him, his eyes met Anna's, and he could see how touched and surprised she was. She looked into his reddened eyes as tears rolled down his face from the pepper, and she became overcome with joy and guilt at the whole scenario.

"You proposed to me?" Anna asked, still bewildered at what all was happening. Kristoff looked down at the ground as he got back onto his knees and gave a brief nod. Though it was by far NOT the way he wanted to pop the question to Anna, the deed was done, and all that was left to do was pull out the ring and show it to her.

He pulled the ring out of his pocket, the ring that by some miracle in itself managed to stay in his pocket despite the scuffle, and held it up to Anna, whose eyes grew as wide as the diamond itself. Even though Kristoff was partially blind by the pepper he was just assaulted with, even he could see that Anna was absolutely blown away, and a huge feeling of relief swept through him as he realized that he had somehow pulled off the most memorable proposal that he could have ever imagined.

Anna held the ring and put it on her finger, on the verge of tears form happiness as she looked at it. She absolutely loved the ring. It wasn't as flashy or as crazy as some of the royal jewels that she had seen throughout the castle, but it was so beautiful and elegant that it still took her breath away.

She looked at Kristoff, whose eyes were still red, and now her eyes were just as red. She was overcome with such a whirlwind of emotions that it simply overloaded her. The happiness from the proposal, the amazement from the ring, and now the guilt from seeing that she had just moments earlier assaulted her husbands eyes with a direct blast of pepper was too much for her to handle. She hugged Kristoff as tightly as she physically could to express both her gratitude and her sorrow, and began sobbing out of the combo of joy and pity.

"I'll take that as a yes?" Kristoff asked, hugging Anna gingerly in his arms. She nodded profusely and started repeating 'yes' over and over. They held each other for a full minute before Anna managed to calm down and catch her breath. She wiped tears from her face as she forced a smile and looked at Kristoff's still reddened eyes, and kissed him.

It was a gentle kiss. A kiss that one would give to their significant other as a substitute for a 'yes' to answer their question. And it helped both of them calm down that much more.

"W-Why were you so freaked out about me reading the card?" Anna asked, still upset over her own actions while so ecstatic that Kristoff had finally proposed to her

Kristoff sighed and decided to just tell the truth. "Because Olaf was the one who made that card, not me... I couldn't think of a way to propose to you so I asked him for some help, and he came up with the card. He must have slipped it into the basket without telling me, and then you found it." He admitted

Anna wasn't thrown off by the revelation at all. "All you had to do was ask me Kristoff. I was always going to say yes."

Kristoff nodded. "That's what Elsa told me when I asked her for advice"

Anna embraced him once again, appreciating how far Kristoff went to try to make the proposal perfect, even though she literally would have been happy with anything, something that Kristoff himself now realized.

"Did you really have to throw pepper in my eyes?" He finally asked, rubbing his eyes even more.

"Hey, you KNOW that I am not accountable for my actions when I'm being tickled!" She defended, raising her index finger at Kristoff and wearing a frown on her face.

"But it couldn't have been something less harmful than pepper? Like, bees? Or maybe some sort of acid?" He joked, his vision still not fully returning to its prior state.

They both laughed as Anna pecked him on the cheek with a kiss.

* * *

Elsa eagerly and anxiously awaited Anna and Kristoff's return. She kept herself busy with paperwork, but every once in a while, the fear and dread at the thought of Kristoff failing to pop the question or the thought of losing Anna would creep up in her heart. She could feel the ice in her veins slide towards her fingertips every once in a while as she toyed with the thoughts, which was something that happened right before she would accidentally release her powers. She contemplated putting on some gloves, but kept herself calm, and tried to keep herself busy whenever she began to feel anxious.

Kristoff and Anna had set out at around noon, and they didn't return until 4, which was much longer than they normally took when going out for a picnic. The delay only heightened Elsa's worry, but she kept herself calm by keeping herself busy, and was relieved when word finally reached her that they had returned.

She quickly made her way from her work room out the front doors and came across Anna and Kristoff as they emerged from the stables.

"So how did it-" She started

"HE PROPOSED!" Anna squealed before Elsa could even finish. Her voice was so high pitched and shrill that Elsa's ears began to sting, and the bear-hug she gave Elsa was almost suffocating. She broke off the hug and then flashed the ring to Elsa, whose eyes widened at the site of how big it was.

"Wow!" was all she could mutter as her gaze moved back and forth between the ring and Anna's ecstatic look. "Kristoff that's an amazing... Why are your eyes red?" She asked, breaking off mid-sentence.

"Oh, yeah. Ummmm... There was an accident, pepper was involved... It's kind of a long story really" Kristoff explained, laughing casually at how he must have looked to Elsa at the moment. His eyes would stay red from the pepper attack for the rest of the day, and he would always remember the incident as a warning for why he should never tickle Anna ever again.

"Pepper?" Elsa asked, still confused and mildly curious at what happened.

"Elsa he proposed! He did it! Do you know what this means?" Anna said, putting both hands on Elsa's shoulders and turning her so that she was directly facing Anna.

She moved her face to almost an inch in front of Elsa's.

"It means we have to start planning my wedding!" She exclaimed, smiling and almost giggling at the mere thought of it. "I need to tell everyone in the castle first!" Anna added, before dashing off into the castle, leaving a confounded Elsa and a happy Kristoff in her dust.

The two watched her sprint into the castle as the doors closed behind her.

"Pepper?" Elsa asked as she turned towards Kristoff.

"Yep... Don't under any circumstances ever try to tickle Anna" Kristoff replied, and the two of them made their way back into the castle.


	4. Chapter 3

The next morning, Elsa slumbered in her sleep, breathing very faintly and quietly as she laid unmoving beneath the covers, like a sleeping baby animal. Anna slowly raised her head from the side of Elsa's bed, eyes fixed on her like a lion about to leap onto its prey. She inched her way closer and closer towards Elsa the way a snake slithers towards its prey before springing, only her eyes peeking above from the edge of the bed. She was going to get her really good this time.

"ELSA WAKE UP!" Anna screamed at the top of her lungs, leaping out from behind the side of the bed the way a great white shark leaps out of the ocean.

Elsa freaked out, her eyes quickly burst wide open, and ice immediately shot out from her hands as if it were gunpowder. Her pillows caught the worst of it, as several of them quickly transformed into blocks of ice, while parts of her mattress and the headboard were glazed over in a coating of ice as well. Ten snowgies also popped into existence all around her and promptly began tumbling over each other as they all fell off the bed. They all promptly began running around bumping and crashing into things before they all collectively made their way out the door.

"ANNA!" Elsa yelled out both in terror and in annoyance. "THAT WAS MY FAVORITE PILLOW" she added, after observing that her favorite pillow was now entombed in ice. She had a lot of pillows on her bed, but she absolutely adored the smallest one of them, since it was always the softest one to sleep on and also just the right size to hug in your arms as you fell asleep. It was a light blue pillow with a single white flower as decoration on it, much different than the other larger purple pillows on her bed. Elsa saw a lot of herself in the smaller and unique blue pillow, which is why she treasured it so much.

Now it had been turned into a feather-flavored popsicle.

"Six seven eight nine... Ten! Oh my god, that's a new record!" Anna proudly exclaimed, taking a tally of all the snowgies that Elsa had created in her moment of fear as they skimperd out of the room.

"Anna why did you do that?... Geez it's not even 7am!" Elsa complained, rubbing her eyes and taking deep breaths to try to slow down her heart rate, which was beating so hard it felt like it was going to jump right out of her ribcage.

"I had to, we need to plan my wedding!" Anna grinned, giving Elsa a crushing hug to the point that she felt like Anna was squeezing the life out of her.

"Uh huh, couldn't this have waited until at least, I dunno, 9? You know I love sleep just as much as you do" - Elsa

"Pfft. NO ONE loves sleep as much as me... But we can't dally Elsa, we have a lot of planning to do! My wedding is going to be in two weeks!" - Anna said, throwing open the curtains to Elsa's room and allowing sunlight to pour in.

"Wait, what? Two WEEKS? Anna... Anna that's not nearly enough time to plan an entire wedding!" Elsa protested, suddenly becoming worried.

"Anything is possible when your in love Elsa!" Anna happily countered as she gleefully observed the rising sun outside from the window.

(Cue upbeat orchestra as Anna breaks out into song. Again, feel free to tap your foot at medium speed as you read along)

* * *

"So much to do, so much to plan,  
To do this I'm gonna need-a-hand,  
Cause in two weeks time i WILL be getting  
Marrieeeeeeeed.

The wedding will be within these walls  
The afterparty held out in the halls  
Where everyone from town will be  
As happy as meeeeeeeeeee

There will be all kinds musicians and dancers here,  
And all kinds of goodies like sweets and beer  
Where everything the people would want  
would be here-for-freeeeeeeeee

(music slows a bit for first dramatic build up, tap foot slower)

Cause this is a really big event in my life...  
Perhaps the biggest in my life so far...  
I know this day will be perfect  
In myyyyy harrrrrrrrrrrt

(Music picks back up as Anna begins dragging Elsa all around the castle, painting a picture of what she imagines her wedding will be like, resume medium speed foot tapping. Also I know I misspelled 'heart' on that last line, but I had to in order to really annunciate how she sang the word)

Cause I'll be getting married in two-weeks-time,  
I know it's true because this-song-rhymes,  
And it will be such a beautiful,  
Perfect dayyyyyy.  
The ceremony will be held here in-the-church,  
While the choir above us sing-like-birds,  
And I'll be standing here while,  
Dressed in whiiiiiiiiiiiiite.  
I walk down the aisle, all-eyes-on-me,  
So excited that I almost would (whispers) have-to-pee,  
And waiting for me at the alter would be my,  
New husbaaaaaaaand.  
The priest would read from the holy-books,  
While I admire Kristoff's-good-looks,  
And you'll be right besides me as,  
My sole bridesmaaaaaaaaaaaaid.

(music slows down again to slower speed)

Cause this is a really big event in my life...  
The biggest in my life so far...  
I know my wedding will be perfect,  
In myyyyy harrrrrrrrrrrt.

(Elsa jumps into the song, tempo picks up once again)

Anna slowdown, two weeks is too soon,  
There's too much to plan and to much to do.  
A wedding in-just-two-weeks-time?  
Thats simply way too sooooon.

I know you're happy and I am too,  
Believe me I'm just as thrilled as you,  
But we need to take it easy,  
and just think things through.

Lets plan this out,  
Lets plan this right,  
Lets leave no detail,  
Out of sight.  
Because thats exactly what we'd do,  
If the wedding was-so-soooooon.

You're my sister and I love you,  
I want this wedding to be perfect too,  
I think we should take it easy and-  
Wait, who are you?

* * *

Anna had initially planned on bringing Elsa outside the castle into the courtyard to keep planning her wedding, but at the door they were greeted by two elderly gentlemen. They were bald and had profuse white facial hair all over their faces, they were short and skinny, to the point that a strong breeze could have carried them away, and they wore royal blue matching uniforms that looked like something that a soldier in the 1800's might have worn into battle. They each wore glasses, and one of them was a good 6 inches taller than the other, despite being short to begin with.

"Why hello there!" The slightly taller of the two said. "You are the Queen and the Princess who is getting married, yes?"

"Um, yes? Wait, who are you, and how did you know that my sister is getting married?" Elsa asked, befuddled

"My name is Maxim, this is Arthur, and we are representatives of the Royal Historical Society. We are here to examine the family histories of the bride and groom in question to authenticate the regality of both of them, so that the wedding may be approved as a royal wedding."

"How did you find out that my sister is getting married? She got engaged only yesterday!" Elsa asked, at which Anna intervened

"I, may or may not, have stayed up all last night mailing letters to people in order to get the wedding started" - Anna admitted

"WHAT?" - Elsa

"Yes, and we just happened to be in port returning from a different inquiry when the letter Anna wrote was handed to us. It was quite a remarkable coincidence we were here, wouldn't you so say Arthur?" - Maxim

"Degaui sadfigas asdifahf cibiznum " - Arthur

"What did he say?" - Anna

"I have no idea, Arthur only speaks in gibberish." - Maxim

"I'm getting such a headache right now" Elsa said, rubbing her eyes with her hands. Sometimes she felt like she was surrounded by lunatics and crazy people and that she was the only sane person in the world anymore.

"Don't worry, we will only need to do some research in the royal library and talk with the groom and bride, to conclude if they are royalty or not. We will be completely out of your way and out of your hair" Maxim said, trying to ease Elsa's headache

Elsa shook her head "Kristoff... Kristoff doesn't have any family really. He was orphaned at an early age, and we have no idea who his real parents are, so its impossible for him to be royalty"

"That's okay. That means we'll just need to see evidence that Anna is royalty so that the wedding could be approved as a royal one then" - Maxim

"But she lives here, isn't that proof that she is royalty?" Elsa asked.

"We only need to make official. I assure you, it will take no more then an hour or two for us to verify everything, and then we'll be on our way" - Maxim

"Just to clarify, even if Kristoff isn't royalty, Does the fact that I am royalty mean that if I marry him, then the marriage will still be recognized as a royal one?" Anna asked.

"Abinimov bihwoo yewuya sifigh gahyucify mooka preibus spiderman" - Arthur

Elsa and Anna both looked at Maxim for clarification

"I think he said 'yes'." - Maxim

"Great! Elsa, you bring these two gentlemen to the library, I'll start planning my wedding! I'll see ya later!" Anna said, before skipping off to talk to Kristoff in the stables.

"Anna wait!" Elsa said, trying to stop Anna from running off. Anna waved her hand as she hastily made her way towards the stables, ignoring Elsa's plea to stop. "Ughhhh... Here, come on in I'll show you the library" Elsa said in a defeated tone to Maxim and Arthur. She led the two scholars into the castle and a random guard closed the doors behind them.

None of them meanwhile had noticed that Olaf was gleefully chasing the ten snowgies Elsa made from earlier all over the courtyard in the background during the entire conversation.


	5. Chapter 4

"The library is right in here" Elsa said, leading Arthur and Maxis into the royal library within the palace. It certainly was not the largest royal library in the world, probably not even the biggest in the far-northern lands of Europe, but it was certainly the biggest one in Arendelle, and Maxis and Arthur appeared very pleased with their work environment.

"Ah, fantastic! Yes, alright then. We will get right to work, and we should be done by no later than 1:00" - Maxis

"waquiy ovax cinjack" Arthur affirmed

"If there is any sort of problem, I will be in my study right down the hall on the right. I have some business as queen I must handle that I've been putting off for far too long." Elsa remarked, giving them a smile before leaving Maxis and Arthur to their work in the library

She walked down the hall, entered her office where she worked, and promptly took a power-nap on the sofa in the room.

* * *

"KRISTOFF!" Anna screeched, after sneaking up on him and scaring the living daylights out of him. She did to him what she had done to Elsa earlier that day, as Kristoff was just as fun to scare as Elsa. Even though Kristoff didnt create magical clumsy little snowmen when he got scared, he did something just as entertaining when he got spooked. His voice would get really high pitched, as if he had just inhaled helium.

_And it was hysterical. _

"ANNA!" Kristoff yelped, being so startled that he sounded like a mouse as he almost flung himself right off the bale of hay he was sleeping on. Even Sven freaked out at hearing Anna's yell, and he immediately kicked open the gate on his stall thinking that they were being attacked.

Instead, he only saw Anna, doubled over in laughter.

"WHY DO YOU DO THAT?" Kristoff yelled in his high pitched voice, before clamping his mouth shut to avoid embarrassing himself even further. Kristoff was the only person in all of Arendelle who slept in longer than Anna did, so she far more frequently scared Kristoff out of his sleep than Elsa, who regularly woke up earlier than she did.

"Because it's SO FUNNY" Anna answered, wheezing as she tried to catch her breath. She had scared both Kristoff and Elsa half to death that morning, and never had she felt so alive before 9:30 am. She was almost getting high from the thrill of getting married and of scaring the bejesus out of both Elsa and Kristoff.

Kristoff got onto his feet while muttering angrily, threw on a shirt, and opened up the window, only to be blasted in the face by sunlight as if it had come out of a firehose.

He immediately slammed the window shut.

"What is it 9am?" He muttered, rubbing his eyes and feeling a migraine kick in.

"Just a hair after. But that's okay, because we need to start planning my wedding!" - Anna

"Don't you mean OUR wedding?" - Kristoff chuckled

"My wedding, your wedding, our wedding, it's all the same thing... Now come on! We need to get planning!" - Anna

"Anna I proposed just yesterday, let's enjoy being engaged for at least a little bit" - Kristoff

"Nonsense, I'll enjoy being married much more than just being engaged. Now come on, we need to get a move on! The wedding is going to be in two weeks!" - Anna

"Wait, HOW long? Cause it sounded a little like you said it would be in two weeks..." - Kristoff said, not quite sure if he heard Anna correctly.

"That's because i DID say it would be in two weeks silly!" Anna said, wandering over to Sven and brushing hay off of him. She didn't see it, but Sven was giving Kristoff a very confused and concerned look, as if he was agreeing with him that a wedding in two weeks was way too soon.

"Anna did you tell Elsa that you plan for your wedding to be in two weeks?" Kristoff asked

"Yep! And she's TOTALLY cool with it." Anna said, not missing a beat

Sven and Kristoff exchanged more confused looks with each other.

"Where is Elsa right now? Because I... Ummm..." Kristoff started, taking off his cap and hurling it into one of the stables. "Because... Because I lost my hat, and I think she has it."

"She's with some guys in the library who are hear to validate the wedding or something, I dunno I kinda zoned out." - Anna

"The, the library, got it" Kristoff stammered, thrown off by Anna's remark. "Be right back" He added, and then sprinted out the door into the castle.

* * *

"Elsa!" Kristoff yelled, bursting into her office without even knocking.

Elsa, snoozing on the sofa, burst awake in fear, causing two more snowgies to pop into existence. They ran right out the door as Kristoff danced out of their way, where he was then greeted with a sleep-deprived death stare from Elsa.

"I swear, whoever is the next person to wake me up from a nap I'm going to punt them halfway to the North Mountain..." Elsa angrily said out loud to herself as she brushed some snow off of her. She looked down to see that she had also painted over a good chunk of the sofa in a layer of ice from Kristoff barging in on her.

"Elsa, I'm so sorry, I really am, but Anna just told me that she wants the wedding to be in two weeks, and I think that is just WAY too soon." Kristoff said, almost pleading his case to Elsa.

She sighed and began rebraiding her hair into a French braid from the disheveled state that it was before. It was getting much harder to maintain as it grew longer, and she considered getting a haircut just for the sake of making it easier to maintain.

"I know, I also told her that two weeks is too soon to plan a wedding, but I don't think she listened to me" - Elsa

"You did? She told me that you were fine with it" - Kristoff

"She what?" - Elsa

"HE SAID THAT ANNA TOLD HIM THAT YOU WERE FINE WITH THE WEDDING BEING IN TWO WEEKS!" Olaf yelled from the hallway.

"OLAF I TOLD YOU TO STOP SPYING ON OTHER PEOPLES CONVERSATIONS!" Kristoff called out into the hallway

"I'M NOT SPYING, I'M EAVESDROPPING!" - Olaf

"THOSE ARE THE SAME THING!" - Kristoff

"NO THEY AREN'T, OTHERWISE THEY WOULDN'T BE DIFFERENT WORDS!" Olaf countered

"Olaf could you go find those two snowgies I made and make sure they are chased out of the castle?" Elsa requested, coming up with a meaningless chore for Olaf to do to get rid of him

"OKAY!" He yelled back, and his tiny footsteps could be heard as he ran away from the room down the hall.

The two breathed a sigh of relief, and Kristoff went right back to begging Elsa for help.

"You have to convince her that two weeks is way too soon for a wedding." He started

"I tried to already, what makes you think she'll listen to me?" - Elsa

"You're her sister" - Kristoff

"You're her husband!" Elsa countered

"But you're the Queen! You can order her to make it wait, can't you?" - Kristoff

"I'm not her mother Kristoff, and I'm not going to order her to not have a wedding in two weeks..." Elsa said, dismissing the idea of using her authority as Queen over such a ridiculous matter. "We're just going to have to convince her to slow it down a little, before she invites anyone else to come to the castle..."

"How do we do that? Tickle her until she complies? Trust me that isn't going to end well, I still can't even see straight from yesterday" - Kristoff

"Where is Anna right now?" Elsa asked. "If we both intervene together than maybe we can change her mind."

"She was out in the stables last time I checked. But if she won't listen to you and she won't listen to me, what could the two of us together do?" - Kristoff

"We have to at least try... Let's go try it right now, Anna stayed up all night last night planning her wedding, so soon she'll be exhausted, and then we can get her to delay things while she doesn't have the energy to keep refusing" Elsa reasoned, with Kristoff giving a nod of approval.

The two made their way towards the door and opened it, where they were greeted by Arthur and Maxis who were carrying several books in both of their hands. Both of them wore somber looks on their faces and looked very serious, the kind of serious someone looks like when they have to deliver bad news.

"Queen Elsa! Do you happen have a moment, there is something that, well, requires your attention..." - Maxis

Elsa rubbed her eyes with her hands. "Ugh, what is it you need?" She asked

"There is something we found during our research that we believe is something that... Requires your attention..." - Maxis

"Flarvalu mih serrit sharkbait hoo ha ha" - Arthur

"Huh, I guess it ain't easy being Queen." - Kristoff said, nudging Elsa with his elbow.

"Alright, you go find Anna and then just try to stall her, I'll meet up with you once I handle whatever this is" - Elsa said, almost in disbelief at how crazy this day was going.

It was about to get a lot worse...

* * *

Kristoff exited the room and Maxis and Arthur made their way inside, with Elsa closing the door behind them.

"Oh dear, what happened here?" Maxis asked, noticing the sofa that Elsa had partially frozen after being startled by Kristoff during her nap.

"Slight accident." - Elsa

"So, then you really DO have ice powers? I mean, I've heard the rumors but, I, I just never knew what to make of them." Maxis said, becoming slightly giddy from his very serious tone just moments before.

Elsa nodded. "Yes it's true, I have ice powers, and they are still a work in progress in terms of keeping them under control." Elsa admitted, remembering her childhood when her powers were really out of control. "So what is it you've found that requires my attention?"

Maxis and Arthur exchanged looks. "We, er, found something rather troubling... You should probably sit down..." Maxis said.

Elsa sat down on the part of the sofa that wasn't iced over.

"Alright then. What do you know of Pea Plants Queen Elsa?" Maxis asked

"I can safely say I don't know a single thing about them." - Elsa

"Okay, I'll try to make things simple." Maxis said, setting the books he was carrying onto Elsa's desk. "A friar by the name of Gregor Mendel recently published a book about how pea plants can inherit traits from other pea plants when their seeds are combined. Through vigorous experimentation, he proved that there is definitive evidence that plants inherit certain and unique traits from their parent plants... Do you follow" He explained carefully.

"So far, yes." Elsa replied, and Maxis continued.

"Pea plants are similar to people since children inherit certain traits from their parents. Such traits include eye color, height, skin tone... And also hair color." Maxis said, pausing right before saying hair color.

Elsa gave a single nod.

"Me and Arthur have personally devoted much of our time as scholars into studying how traits are passed from parents to their offspring, and as we examined the traits of your parents and of you and your sis-, I mean, of Princess Anna" Maxis went on. "We have found reason to believe that..."

He trailed off, not being able to finish the sentence.

"That what?" Elsa asked

"Well, there is no easy way to say this... Um, we have found reason to believe that Princess Anna... Might not be your sister..." - Maxis

Elsa turned her head a little bit, believing that she didn't hear Maxis correctly, before flat out rejecting what he had said.

"Ummmm, what?" Was all she could reply with, and she was more suspicious and doubtful than she was concerned.

"Hair color is one of the traits that parents pass to their offspring, but some hair colors are stronger, or 'more dominant' then other hair colors." Maxis explained. "Brown hair for example is very common and one of the stronger traits, which is what your mother has. Your father though was blonde. Very blonde, which is a much rarer, more recessive trait to inherit"

"What does this have to do with my sister? She has neither blonde hair or brown hair, she is a ginger..." Elsa reasoned.

"That's exactly my point, Queen Elsa... Ginger hair is a recessive hair color to, just like how blonde is a recessive color... Because your father had blonde hair, and no one else in your mother's side of the family had orange hair, it doesn't appear to be possible for princess Anna's parents to have been the former King and Queen..." Maxis explained.

The words began to sink in, but Elsa still rejected them.

"No. That's impossible" She said confidently, standing onto her feet. "My mother gave birth to Anna, and there are several witnesses who would corroborate that. Anna IS my sister." Elsa added

"We believe that your mother is also Princess Anna's mother, we accept that. We just have reason to believe that she had a different father than you, and that you are only half-sisters" - Maxis clarified.

"Half-sisters?" Elsa asked. "But... But my mother was already married to my father and was Queen when Anna was born, it's impossible for my mother to have been with some other man before Anna was born..." She added

Maxis though shook his head. "Your father had blonde hair, a recessive trait. Princess Anna has orange hair, which is also a recessive trait. It's impossible for your father to have been the father to Princess Anna because his hair color makes it impossible for him to have carried the recessive orange hair trait, since blonde hair is also a recessive trait"

Now the words began to sink in, and Elsa could feel the panic grow in her heart. But she was still confused and still refused to believe what she was hearing.

"But... It, isn't it possible that a blonde haired person like my father could give birth to a ginger child?" She asked, her lip starting to quiver. "It surely cant be 100% impossible to happen could it?"

Maxis shook his head. "If he had strawberry blonde hair, blonde hair that had an orange or brownish tint to it, then he could be princess Anna's father... But this is not the case. Your father had completely blonde hair, as you could see from any portrait of him."

Elsa went through each and every memory she had of her father in her head, trying to remember exactly what color his hair was. In every memory, Maxis was correct. Her father had completely blonde hair, every time, in every memory. Even on the last day she saw them alive, an image forever seared into her memory, she could see that his hair was 100% blonde, not a touch of orange anywhere on him.

It was at this point that she was starting to believe them. Her knees began to feel weak, her fingers began to tremble, and her eyes began to dart around the room from object to object as she struggled to really digest what she was being told. Her breathing and her heart rate quickened, and she could feel the ice in her veins sliding down her wrists and into her fingertips, waiting to shoot out on a single mistake that she made. She still wanted to deny and disprove what she was being told, but she was finding it increasingly difficult to do so.

"So... So then, then Anna is my half-sister? In that she is still related to me?" She asked, trying to find reason to keep calm.

Maxis eagerly nodded, noticing the distress in Elsa's face. "She is still more your sister than anyone else in the world, this I know for a fact. You two shared the same mother, and you will always have your mother's traits between both of you. We just believe that she had a different father than you did, a different man then the King."

Elsa finally managed to get a grip on her trembling state and began to pull herself together. She was still upset at hearing that Anna wasn't truly her sister, but hearing that the two were at least partly-related brought her some comfort for the moment.

It didn't last long.

"That brings us to the much bigger problem..." - Maxis

"Bigger problem? Wh-what on EARTH could be the bigger problem?" Elsa asked, almost stunned at being told that this somehow wasn't the worst of the news.

Maxis took a deep breath. "Because Anna had a different father then the former King, that means Anna is the product of an illegitimate relationship between the Queen and some other man... Meaning that the bloodline is 'tainted'... If she gets married to someone who is not royalty, like Kristoff, then I'm afraid that the Royal Historical Society would be forced to declare the marriage not one of royalty, since neither of the two are legitimate royalty."

Elsa tried to absorb what they were saying, but she was struggling. It was worse to be told that Anna was only her half sister, but it was still hard to chew on the idea that the marriage between her and Kristoff would now not be recognized as a royal marriage either.

"Okay. Okay so... What..." She managed to muster up. "What are the consequences of the marriage not being royal?"

Maxis wore a grave look on his face. "It means that neither Princess Anna, nor her husband, nor any of their descendants, would be able to inherit the throne of Arendelle, and other monarchies of other nations would refuse to tolerate her being allowed to stay within the palace."

Elsa didn't understand, and looked at Maxis to clarify further.

He gulped. "That means that if Anna and Kristoff get married, you will have to kick them out of the palace... If you refuse, just about every foreign nation will see your rule as illegitimate, and several may use this knowledge as a reason to invade and take Arendelle for themselves.

Elsa began to freak out again, after just managing to pull herself together. Ice was now pooling into her fingertips as she fully absorbed what she was hearing, and she kept her hands clenched into fists to avoid having any kind of accident. She fought back tears as she tried to clarify all the ramifications that Anna and Kristoff's marriage would impose.

"W-why would... Why would other nations attack Arendelle j-just b-because of the marriage?" Elsa stammered, her eyes starting to fill with water as her breathing quickened.

Maxis could do nothing but answer the question. There was no way for him to give the answer lightly and some how get her to calm down.

"Many monarchies in the world are obsessed with keeping royal bloodlines 'pure', to ensure that power is kept among those who 'deserve it'..." Maxis explained. "If they see any threat to the purity of royal bloodlines anywhere within their reach, they will 10 out of 10 times invade that kingdom or nation that is 'poisoning' the royal bloodline, in order to remove those in power, to keep the royal bloodlines pure."

It all finally sank in. Not only was Anna only her half sister, Anna was also part of an illegitimate relationship between the Queen and some other man. Not only that, if she got married to Kristoff, the marriage would not be seen as one of royalty, and Elsa would have to kick both of them out of the palace or risk going to war with other European nations for violating sacred tradition. Arendelle was not a strong city state, and it had many powerful large enemies around it. Enemies who had tried to attack Arendelle in the past time and time again, and were very eager to attack it once again.

It wasn't the idea of war breaking out that upset her the most though, it was being told that she was expected to kick Anna and Kristoff out of the castle if they got married. That was absolutely unacceptable to Elsa, no matter what customs or traditions mandated. The last time Elsa tried to kick Anna out of the palace, she had plunged the city into an eternal winter and almost got Anna, Kristoff, and even herself all killed. Elsa had vowed to herself never to do that again, because Anna was her sister, and they loved each other. She was family no matter what, and she would never do anything to push them away.

But now, that sisterly bond between the two of them, which had seemed unshakeable and unbreakable just one day earlier, had taken a huge hit. And not only that, the threat of all out war between Arendelle and all of its enemies now hung in the balance over what she would do next. If she obeyed tradition and kicked Anna out of the castle, she would lose everything that she had fought so hard to get over the past few months, which was family, family that she treasured so dearly. If she didn't obey tradition and let Anna stay within the palace though, any or even all of Arendelle's enemies could descend upon Arendelle, and then everyone could lose everything.

It was a lose-lose situation where no matter which option Elsa picked, she risked losing just about everything she had struggled so much for so long to achieve.

Elsa sank down to her knees on the floor and the tears started coming out, she couldn't hold them back anymore. Not any of the nightmares that Elsa had ever had, whether it be the flashbacks of her striking Anna with her powers, or one of the ones where Hans was trying to kill them, compared to the nightmare she was now facing in real life in her study. A miniature snowstorm began to take root in the room, quickly picking up in fury and intensity. In a matter of seconds, the room would have been a full scale blizzard.

But then Anna burst through the door, with Kristoff right behind her.

"Elsa could you please tell Kristoff that you're okay with the wedding being in two... Oh my god Elsa what's wrong?" She broke off mid-sentence after seeing Elsa crouched down on the floor sobbing, snow whirling all around her. She immediately checked for any actual wounds. Elsa looked up into Anna's face, and she broke down, burying her head into Anna's shoulder and hugging her, and Anna hugged her back.

The snowstorm within the room then slowed to a standstill, and all that could be heard was the sound of Elsa sobbing as Anna tried to comfort her. All Anna could do was hold Elsa in her arms and wait for her to get it all out of her system before asking what happened. Kristoff, Arthur, and Maxis didn't dare say a word either. They just stood in silence, unsure of what to do or what to say.

"Elsa" Anna whispered gingerly, trying to comfort her. "It's okay. It will be okay... Whatever it is, it'll be okay... I've got you"


	6. Chapter 5

Several minutes went by as Anna silently tried to calm Elsa. Once Elsa had regained her composure, she and Maxis explained the situation to Anna and Kristoff, who reacted almost as badly to the news as Elsa did.

"If I marry Kristoff and Elsa doesnt kick us out, then other nations may INVADE US? Over something as, as pointless as royal bloodlines?" Anna asked incredulously, almost in disbelief that somehow her marriage could trigger an actual WAR.

Maxis nodded. "Some nations are more tolerant than others when it comes to marriage, but an overwhelming majority of them are not, and given Arendelle's relatively weak strength, the marriage would be the perfect reason they would need to justify attacking."

"There's gotta be something we can do about this right?" - Kristoff asked, almost blaming himself for putting Anna and Elsa in this situation by proposing in the first place.

"I don't see any way out of this... Unless..." Maxis said, trailing off as he went deep into thought

"Unless what?... What? Unless what?" Anna eagerly begged.

Maxis's eyes opened up wide as he realized that there was indeed a way out of this predicament.

"Do you have any idea who could potentially be Anna's actual father?" Maxis asked, as he started pacing back and forth, formulating the idea in his head.

"Not at all. Why?" Elsa asked, noticing Maxis's sudden change in personality from somber and sorrowful to intrigue and hope

"If Anna's actual father, the man who your mother had a secret relationship with, if he were a man of royalty... That may fix the situation!" Maxis explained. "As far as we know right now, Anna is only half-royalty since we are assuming that her actual father is not a man of royalty. If it turns out that he IS royalty though, then that would be enough to justify Anna being allowed to stay in the castle!"

"For real?" Anna asked, her tearful mood vanishing almost instantly. Elsa even got back onto her feet at hearing the possible solution to their problems "If Anna's actual father were royalty, would that solve everything?" She asked.

"Umm... Not entirely" Maxis hesitated. "Nothing changes the fact that the relationship between the former Queen and this other man was an improper and illegitimate one. That'll cause some problems when it comes to who could inherit the throne next, but it DOES avert the more pressing problem of whether or not Anna could be allowed to stay within the castle without provoking a war."

"Hey we'll take it." Kristoff said, interjecting into the conversation for the first time. "Just, how do we find out who Anna's real father is?" he asked.

Maxis stared blankly at Kristoff. "I have absolutely no idea" he admitted after a moment, almost becoming upset with himself for seemingly getting all of their hopes up for nothing.

Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff though weren't let down. They were all already committed to doing whatever it took to have Anna be allowed to stay in the castle and be married to Kristoff, no matter how long the odds were.

"Who do we know who would know about who my real father could have been?" Anna wondered out loud, as everyone else in the room joined in thought. It would have to be someone who knew the King and Queen very well, someone who had been in Arendelle for even longer than Anna or Elsa who also had known the King and Queen extremely well...

They all looked at each other in realization as they arrived at the same answer.

"Trolls!" the three said in unison. Elsa's parents went to the trolls before during the first serious accident involving Elsa's powers, and they knew where to find them, meaning they may have met with them before! If anyone in the world knew about who Anna's actual father could be, it would be them.

"Trolls?" Maxis asked in confusion. "Why..." he laughed "Trolls don't actually exist my queen. That would be like if snowmen could talk!" He added.

Kristoff improvised. "Trolls? What? No..." He said with a fake laugh. "We all said 'rolls!' as in 'let's get some rolls to eat so we can think about this'... She didn't say trolls..."

Anna joined in on the ruse. "Whenever we need to think about something really hard, we always get some rolls to eat... Since they help us think better... It's sort of our own little tradition here in Arendelle." She even threw in a fake smile to try to sell the lie to Maxis and Arthur.

They bought it.

"Oh ROLLS!... Silly me, I thought you said 'trolls'! Well then, yes. We would hate to get in your way or distract you, so, we can leave and head back to our ship if you wish" Maxis offered.

"That would probably be a good idea" Elsa said. "But would it be possible to keep this whole thing a secret for just a little bit so that we can have some time to sort this whole thing out?" She added.

"Oh of course! You've been so hospitable and kind to us that we could easily just stay in port for a little bit and come up for some reason to delay returning home." Maxis said, before turning to Arthur. "Pirates around here are just so troublesome, they really did a number on our ship right?" He said, nudging Arthur with his elbow.

"Yetfad sahdiff qweeds fasid" He nodded, playing along with Maxis and agreeing to not remain silent about the affair for a time.

Maxis was pleased. "We can keep this whole thing under wraps for two to four weeks before we have to report what we have found. I only hope that that would be enough time to find out the truth."

Elsa gave them a warm smile. "Two to four weeks should be good enough. You just make yourselves comfortable in the harbor. If there is anything you need from me feel free to ask and I'll see what I can do..." She then turned to Anna and Kristoff. "Now how about those rolls then?"

Anna and Kristoff nodded and smiled. They escorted Maxis and Arthur all the way out of the castle and sent them on their way towards the harbor, before they closed the doors to the outside the entire castle behind them.

"Okay, so now what?" - Anna

"Lets get to the stables and ride out to meet the trolls, the day is already half over and the clock is ticking so we cant waste anytime." - Elsa

"WAIT!... What about lunch?" Kristoff asked

"Yeah actually I skipped breakfast since I was planning the wedding and all... I think my stomach may be trying to eat itself..." - Anna

"Alright fine. The two of us will go get the horses ready, Kristoff, you pack some food real quick. Have Olaf help you" - Elsa

"Yeah like I'm going to make that mistake twice in one lifetime..." Kristoff said, dashing off to the kitchen as fast as he could.

Elsa and Anna barged into the stables to find Olaf directing 12 snowgies in a chorus.

"Aaaaaaand one-and-two-and-one-and-two-and-one-and-two-and-what-comes-after-two...?" He said, trying to coordinate the snowgies.

They all didn't seem to know what he was trying to do, and they kept trying to wriggle away. Olaf had tied each of them to a bucket to keep them from running away, they appeared to be being held against their will.

"Olaf what, what is this?" - Elsa asked

"Band practice..." Olaf said, without missing a beat.

"... Well keep up the good work!" - Elsa said after a long pause, where she then dragged Anna by the arm past Olaf and the snowgies to get some horses.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" - Olaf asked

"Oh we're, uh, we're just..." - Elsa

"We're going on an adventure!" - Anna

Olaf gasped in excitement. "An ADVENTURE? Can I come? Please!?" He begged

"Anna shush" - Elsa said.

"Nowwaita minute..." Anna said, slurring her words together. "Why cant cant Olaf come along?"

"Oh no, are you sleep-drunk?" Elsa asked.

Whenever Anna went without sufficient amounts of sleep, her brain basically turned off for several hours and she would operate in a zombie-like state where she could barely think straight. She often wouldn't even to be able to remember what happened at the times she was sleep drunk, and it was a real challenge to try to get her to focus or to get her to go to sleep.

"I, Imnot sleepdrunk... Pfft... YOURE the one who's... Who's... Yeah I'm a little sleepdrunk..." - Anna

"If I can function without much sleep then so can you. Sven!" Elsa called out. Sven poked his head up from his pen within the stable, and smiled like a dog at seeing Elsa and Anna.

Elsa opened up the gate and let him out. "Sven I need your help. Anna is a little tipsy, and I need you to take care of her and keep her on your back for this quest we are going on. Can you do that?" She asked

Sven gave an affirmative nod.

"Anna, here is your ride for the day" Elsa said, guiding Anna to hop on Sven's back.

"Heyyyyyy Sven! How are, how are YOU today?" Anna asked with a smile, her eyes only cracked open slightly. "Have I ever told you how much I loved you, cause, cause I love you, like, a LOT"

She was definitely sleep-drunk alright.

"Up you go" Elsa said as she helped Anna onto Sven's back. She sat on Sven's back and hugged him around his neck, resting her head on him too.

"Oh Sven youre so soft..." Anna said. "Youre like... Youre like a warm pillow. A warm pillow that weighs a 200 pounds... And smells like feet."

She was fast asleep within a few seconds.

"Okay. Good, that will work" Elsa said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Sven do you think you can balance her on your back in case she starts to fall off?" She asked

Sven gave another affirmative nod.

"What should I do?" Olaf asked, popping up next to Elsa.

"Olaf! Yeah, ummm... I need you to stay here and keep working on band practice... It's important for our adventure!" Elsa added.

Olaf was excited. "Can I practice for the entire rest of the day?" He begged

"Sure!" - Elsa

All the snowgies tied to the buckets cried out in protest, pleading to be freed from Olaf's enslavement.

Elsa picked two palace horses and led them out of the barn, with Sven following right behind her, with Anna snoring loudly on his back. She had just gotten the saddles on the backs of the horses and instructed some nearby guards that they will be going out for the afternoon and should be back by sunset when Kristoff hustled out of the castle with a basket full of food.

"Okay I packed a lot of stuff in here that should hold us over for, is Anna asleep right now?" Kristoff broke off in mid-sentence as he noticed Anna snoring loudly on Sven's back.

"She got sleep-drunk and then fell asleep on Sven after hopping on. We might have to travel a tad slow so that we don't wake her up, but other then that, we should be okay." Elsa said, motioning for Kristoff to take the reins of one of the horses.

He hopped on the horse with ease, and Elsa tried hopping on the other horse, but she struggled for several seconds. Then she continued struggling for several minutes, awkwardly trying to get onto the horse and failing to do so no matter what she tried.

"Elsa, have you ever ridden a horse before?" Kristoff asked, noticing how much difficulty Elsa was having.

Elsa struggled for several more minutes to get on the horse without giving an answer. It was only until she had taken a running start and jumped onto the horse, her stomach landing where she was supposed to sit, and then realizing that she was now stuck, did she finally admit the truth.

"No..." She reluctantly admitted. "I've never ridden a horse before... I've seen Anna do it lots of times and she makes it look really easy, but... I've never tried it myself." Her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment, but she felt it wasn't her fault. She had been such a shut-in her whole life she never wanted to learn to ride a horse, and when she finally opened up to her sister and the rest of the world, she never had a reason to go anywhere outside the castle on horseback. The whole world had come to her after the gates were opened up, and this was her first time going anywhere on horseback.

Kristoff chuckled. "Here, let me help you".

Elsa slid off the horse and Kristoff helped her get onto it properly, giving tips the entire time on what she should do. She listened to everything he said, but she still struggled with it greatly. Elsa was pretty frail and wobbly, and she accidentally poked both Kristoff and the horse with her elbows and her knees several times as Kristoff helped her onto the horse. It was clearly a new experience for her, and it was clear she would need a lot more practice to even have a fraction of the confidence or expertise that Anna had with horses, but she was now on the horse and ready to go.

"Okay! Okay good, I am on the horse... Wwwwwwhat to I do now?" Elsa asked, feeling almost helpless

Just hold the reins with both hands and follow me. I'll lead us to the trolls.

The gates opened, and the three of them exited the castle. Kristoff looked completely comfortable and confident on the lead horse, Elsa looked very uncomfortable and anxious on the middle one... And Anna was still completely passed out on Sven as she followed them out, despite how bright it was outside.

They passed through the town and were greeted by several townspeople, many of which stopped to see Elsa riding on horseback, a sight they had never seen before. Elsa's confidence was still shaky in learning how to ride a horse but was improving, and Anna was already such an expert she could do it in her sleep... As evidenced by the fact that she actually WAS doing it in her sleep.

They passed through the town and were soon making their way up into the mountains towards the trolls, going at a very slow and casual pace. Hours went by, Elsa and Kristoff munched on some food while riding, and the sun slowly and steadily began to set on the horizon as nighttime approached. Elsa had never seen the sunset on Arendelle from high up in the mountains before, since the only other time she had been this far outside of town was when she first fled it in the middle of the night late last year. She marveled at the sights around her as the sun set, noticing how lush the trees looked during the first few days of summer, how the sky was painted with swaths of orange and pink, and how the sun shined off of the seas as if it was a mirror. She had always seen the beautiful sights of the sky from inside the palace through stain-glass windows, but to actually see the sights of nature while out in the nature was just as much of a new experience to her as it was being on horseback. Kristoff kept a lookout, Elsa observed the scenery, and Anna snored as if she had been shot with an elephant tranquilizer dart, her snores even causing some birds to fly out of the trees in fear every so often.

As the sun set, the stars started to come out, as distant suns and galaxies painted the night sky. Elsa's gazed wandered all across the sky as she tried to identify different constellations... Kristoff was thankful that they would be at the troll home any minute now, because he was very worried.

Wolves would be a problem soon.


	7. Chapter 6

Kristoff led Elsa and a still knocked out asleep Anna into the clearing where his family could usually be found. The moon illuminated the area to reveal several boulders of varying sizes all around the area, which Kristoff knew were his family.

"So how does this work exactly?" Elsa whispered to Kristoff "I haven't met your family up here in almost 20 years, and I don't wan't to scare them or freak out."

"Don't worry, my family is nuts but they aren't insane or easily spooked. They'll love that you came to visit them." Kristoff replied, confident and faithful in his relatives.

"Are you sure?" Elsa asked, still worried.

"Just, follow my lead" Kristoff calmly assured her. He hopped off his horse and began to walk into the center of the clearing. Elsa then attempted to hop off of her horse, but she sort of fell off instead, hitting the ground rather hard and hurting her elbow. The thud caused Anna to stir and emerge out of her slumber, her snore being cut off midway at the sound of Elsa hitting the ground.

"Hey guys! I'm home!" Kristoff called out to seemingly nobody. Elsa would have thought Kristoff had gone nuts, but she had hurt her elbow from falling off the horse bad enough to not even realize what was going on. Anna meanwhile was now partially awake, but she was torn between waking herself up completely or to try to double down and fall back asleep for another 6 hours...

Elsa caressed her arm before becoming distracted by what sounded like an avalanche. Giant boulders began rolling down ledges and over tree roots every which way, where several came close enough to her and Anna that the horses became spooked. All the boulders and rocks rolled towards Kristoff, whose arms were outstretched to the point that he looked like a boulder Messiah of some sorts.

The rocks then unraveled themselves and the trolls revealed themselves, all yelling out in glee that Kristoff was home and celebrating. Several began to even jump on Kristoff and clamor for his attention.

"Kristoff! Look Kristoff, I found a stick!" One yelled  
"I grew a sixth toe!" Another yelled  
"I invented the game of Golf" Another called out.

Kristoff tried to calm them down and asked to see Grand Pabbie, but they all were ecstatic to see him again. Elsa got up to her feet, still gingerly nursing her sore elbow, and watched the whole scene unfold in front of her in confusion. Anna had opted to try to fall back asleep, but instead she ended up just rolling off of Sven and hitting the ground, waking up with a thud.

"Anna! Are you okay?" Elsa asked, worried that Anna might have hurt herself just like she had.

"I'm fiiiiiiine" Anna replied, shaking it off. "I've rolled out of bed lots of times in the p-, wait, where are we?" she broke off, observing that they were not inside her bedroom in the castle, but instead out in the wilderness at night.

"We're here to meet the trolls to ask them for help about who could be, the, the person that, that had an affair with mom" Elsa stuttered, trying to avoid saying 'your father'. She still was not comfortable with the idea that Anna was only her half sister, and she definitely wasn't comfortable with even mentioning it in a way that suggested it was true. She heard the evidence from the scholars, but she was now unwilling to accept it.

Anna though didn't even notice what Elsa said, instead zoning out after hearing that they were visiting the trolls. She smiled and then gleefully ran out to meet Kristoff in the middle of the troll horde that had encircled him, basically jumping into his arms in the middle of it all.

"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to my new fiance, Anna!" Kristoff smiled, holding Anna like a prized trophy in his arms as cheers erupted from the trolls.

"It's official? Really? Let me see the ring!" One called out, jittering with excitement that his OTP had seemingly come true. Anna extended out her hand showing the ring Kristoff bought for her, earning several ooh's and aah's from trolls who laid eyes on it.

"Its beautiful!" One said  
"It's gorgeous!" Another remarked  
"See, SHE got a nice ring, why don't I get a nice ring?" One troll bickered to her apparent husband.  
"Medda we've been OVER this! you need to have MONEY in order to get a RING" He replied  
"Well then maybe you should GET A JOB" Medda angrily responded.

Elsa, amazed at the sight that Kristoff and Anna had grown accustomed to, shyly walked up closer to the gathering and tried to introduce herself. She was really nervous, and felt as if she was at a party trying to introduce herself to people she didn't know at all.

"Hi, everyone... It's, it's nice to be back... I dont know if you all would have remembered meeting me..." - Elsa started

The trolls turned to their attention to her and promptly drowned out her introduction with chatter of "It's the Queen!" before becoming hushed.

"Queen Elsa!" Grand Pabbie exclaimed from directly behind her. He was returning from his own mini-quest and had approached Elsa from behind whiel she was distracted by the site in front of her.

"AAAACK!" Elsa yelped in surprise, causing 3 snowgies to pop into existence. The three snowgies ran out into the trees, causing several of the smaller trolls to give chase, yelling that they wanted to adopt one and and asking their parents if they could keep them.

"You might want to get that checked" Grand Pabbie said, surprised by what he had just triggered.

"It's fine, it's... It's fine" Elsa said, recollecting herself. "I just didn't see you there"

"My apologies Queen Elsa. Is there something I can help you with?" Grand Pabbie asked, his intuition telling him that something was wrong for the Queen to come and meet them.

"KRISTOFF GOT ENGAGED!" One troll called out from the gathering. "AND HE BOUGHT ANNA A BEAUTIFUL RING, UNLIKE MY DEADBEAT HUSBAND WHO ONLY GAVE ME A TREE ROOT"

"MEDDA!" Her husband called out.

"Actually yes" Elsa replied, answering Grand Pabbie's question. "We do need your help with something..."

Elsa joined Anna and Kristoff in the center of the circle while all the other trolls listened intently. The trio explained their dilemma to Grand Pabbie and explained the issue of Anna's relation to the previous King and Queen, while leaving out the parts about how the Anna and Kristoff's marriage could spark an all out war between Arendelle and other nations. They also skipped over the science lesson about heredity and the pea plants for the sake of being brief, they were more interested in finding out a way to find Anna's real father than they were giving a science lesson to the trolls.

"...So we were wondering if there is any way to find out who it was that our mother may have had an affair with" Elsa finished explaining. Everyone then turned to Grand Pabbie to hear his advice.

Grand Pabbie though was confused, not enlightened. "That doesn't make sense though..." He began. "Your parents loved each other, they went through so much together just to be with each other that its inconceivable that the Queen would have had relations with someone else."

"But the hair color of the King and Queen makes it impossible for them to have been Anna's parents" Kristoff clarified.

"Hair color? What does hair color have to do with anything?" Grand pabbie asked

"My father was blond, my mother was a brunette, since Anna is a ginger..." Elsa started, but Grand Pabbie interrupted her.

"Whoa there, whoa... Your father wasn't always blond" He said.

His words hung in the air for a moment, sinking in.

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked, completely dumbfounded at the comment. Anna and Kristoff were equally stunned.

"Your father wasn't always blond" He repeated, noticing the looks of confusion on their faces. "Remember how I said that your parents went through so much just to be with each other?"

Elsa and Anna nodded.

"Your father, long ago, changed his appearance to be with your mother..." He repeated. Using the magic within him, Grand Pabbie produce a portrait of the King and Queen meeting with the trolls years before Anna and Elsa were born.

"A few years after your parents became the King and Queen of Arendelle, they both came to me asking if I could lift a spell that had been placed on your father, a spell that made him appear different from what he really was... I tried to oblige, but I was unable to lift the spell, because it was cast by a powerful wizard far stronger than even me..." - Grand Pabbie

"A wizard more powerful than you?" Kristoff asked, unable to believe such a statement could even remotely be true.

Grand Pabbie nodded. "I was unable to lift the spell, and I told your parents that only the person who originally cast the spell could be able to lift it, if he even could at all."

"Why did he change his identity in the first place?" Elsa asked

"I didn't ask." - Grand Pabbie

"Why not?" - Kristoff

"Because it wasn't my business to know why, and asking such a personal question to royalty whose lands you live on is considered to be extremely rude, like swearing, or leaving the toilet seat up after you've finished using it..." Grand Pabbie clarified.

"AHA" Anna exclaimed, pointing a finger at Kristoff in triumph. The two had a long running dispute regarding toilet seat etiquette, and Grand Pabbie's comment had validated her side of the argument right then and there, much to Anna's delight and Kristoff's dismay.

"Is there any way we could find the original wizard who casted the spell and ask him why my father had his identity altered?" Elsa asked. Her relief at finding out that she and Anna really were sisters after all they had been told was offset only by the curiosity of why her father had his identity changed in the first place. Was it because he was trying to hide from someone? Was it to get around some other crazy tradition to avoid causing a war? She had so many questions.

And Pabbie only had some of the answers.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know who the guy is who cast the spell, along with where you can find him..." Grand Pabbie revealed hesitantly.

"Really? Where?" Anna asked, breaking off from rubbing her minor victory in Kristoff's face and rejoining the conversation.

"The guys name is Raspierion, or Rasputin, something like that. He's a powerful wizard from the far east who was kicked out for being untrustworthy by the monarchy. Also he's creepy, but that's not the main problem here" - Grand Pabbie

"Well what IS the main problem? Where can we find him?" - Elsa

"Where you can find him IS the main problem..." Grand Pabbie started. "After he was expulsed from the far east, no other nation would accept him in their borders, otherwise they would risk going to war with the country that kicked him out, which was very powerful back then. The only nation that would take him in was a cluster of islands in the sea, since the far east nation lacked a navy."

"Cluster of islands where?" Anna asked

"Well, think about it..." Grand Pabbie said, trying to dodge the question and avoid being the bearer of bad news... "Which islands or isles are there in the area where a suspicious person could flee to and avoid being arrested for their actions?"

Elsa's heart sank, and both her and Anna got goosebumps. The hair on Kristoff's neck stood up, and his eyes widened in realization over what Grand Pabbie was implying.

"Please don't tell me that this wizard is... There... Anywhere but THERE" Anna pleaded.

Grand Pabbie shook his head. "I'm afraid that he is indeed in the Southern Isles..."

* * *

Elsa flashed back to her final encounter with Hans and seeing a frozen Anna try to save her, Anna flashed back to the library where Hans had betrayed her and left her to die, and Kristoff flashed back to the time he watched Anna punch Hans off of a ship, trying to hide a smirk as the scene replayed in his head. Anna had hit him hard, really REALLY hard, but Kristoff still believed that if he had been the one to punch Hans, he would have broken his entire face.

"Well looks like that's the end of the road, cause there is no way we are going to the SOUTHERN ISLES just to see why dad's appearance changed." Anna said, strongly against investigating the case any further.

Elsa didn't want any of it either. "I wouldn't want to be caught on a ship within a hundred miles of the Southern Isles"

"I understand why you guys might not have the Southern Isles on your list of places to go on vacation, but we have a bit of a problem here." Kristoff said, breaking off from the sentiment held by Anna and Elsa.

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked.

"Well, how do we explain to the scholar guys what we found out?" Kristoff explained. "We can't exactly just tell them 'oh yeah, the magical trolls you guys don't believe exist told us that our father magically had his identity changed so everything is fine now', they're not going to believe that"

"Can't we just bring them here to meet the trolls and have them explain it to them?" Anna asked.

Grand Pabbie shook his head. "Only citizens and rulers of Arendelle can see and talk to us." He explained

"WHY?" Anna asked, almost outraged.

"Once someone denies the existence of trolls, they can never believe in them again, no matter how much proof or evidence you bring to them." Grand Pabbie admitted, much to Anna and Elsa's frustration. "If you bring him here to us, he will be unable to see or hear us, and all he will see would be you guys talking to seemingly nobody..." He added

"Something tells me that talking to someone they cant see or hear wouldn't exactly help our image" Kristoff remarked.

"So, what, we have to go to the Southern Isles and find this guy just to prove to these scholars that dad was our father and that our marriage is one of royalty?" Anna asked, dismayed at how dangerous the task ahead of them was appearing to be.

Grand Pabbie though shook his head. "Rasputin won't be a credible source to these scholars you are dealing with since he was expelled from a great and powerful country for being borderline crazy. Even if he did vouch for you, the scholars might not believe him..." He explained, thinking things over. "However, if you could find undeniable evidence of your father before his appearance was altered, that should be sufficient to convince these scholars that Anna is indeed his daughter."

Elsa shook her head. "It's not that simple" was all she said, before Anna jumped in.

"Our father wasn't a prince who came across Arendelle by chance. He was a refugee from another kingdom up in the north that collapsed long ago." She explained, revealing what little knowledge she and Elsa knew of their father's distant past. "He was a knight, of some sorts, and when his home country was wiped off the map, he fled to Arendelle, where he met our mother, still a princess at the time, married her, and then became King through the marriage."

Elsa nodded. "Because he had proof that he was a knight, the marriage between him and our mother was allowed"

Grand Pabbie was visibly let down by the revelation. "You don't happen to know the name of the country he fled from? The one that collapsed?"

Elsa shook her head. "We didn't think much of it, and the few times I did ask him he just replied that it wasn't important..."

"Same thing for me" Anna addad.

"I see..." Grand Pabbie replied, thinking carefully once again. "Then it appears that the only path you can take is to seek out Rasputin in the Southern Isles, assuming he is still there and not dead, and see if he reveals any leads about your father that you can examine to convince the scholars that Anna is truly the daughter of the former king, and of not some other man..."

Anna protested. "I am NOT going to the Southern Isles... Not in a million, billion... some other big number years, EVER. It's too risky, too scary, too frightening, there is NOTHING that could make me feel okay enough to go there..." She turned her back on everyone and crossed her arms, her mind was set on not going.

"If we sang a song about it, would that make things better?" Grand Pabbie asked.

Anna paused, mulling the option over... 5 awkwardly silent seconds past before Anna slowly turned her head around.

"Maybe..." Was all she replied with. She was committed to not going to the Southern Isles, but curiosity had gotten the best of her.

Kristoff loudly groaned. "Do we HAVE to have another song again? We just had one this morning like 12 hours ago!" He protested

Grand Pabbie ignored Kristoff and turned around to all the trolls behind him. "Alright guys, just like we practiced... Everyone get into position! A FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT"


	8. Chapter 7

(The trolls are scurry into position as uptown Jazz music starts to play, similar to the type of music intro you get in a Frank Sinatra song. Instead of tapping your foot to the song this time, try snapping your fingers.)

"I know that things are, looking bad,  
But you gotta find out, about your dad,  
Find out the truth, and prove your name,  
Or your life won't ever, be the same.

The Southern Isles are, the world's armpit  
The whole nation isn't worth a... Spit  
But you have to go there to, find the truth  
Just play it all cool like the great Babe Ruth.

I know that Hans is there somewhere,  
Rotting in jail and losing his hair,  
Don't let him go, and, scare you away  
He just ain't worth it at the end of the day." - Grand Pabbie

(Bulda jumps in and sings directly to Anna)

"Just listen to me, look here, honey,  
I know that Hans makes you feel icky.  
But you gotta be strong, you gotta be tough,  
Even the sea has to be a little rough.

The thought, of, Hans, may, fill you with fear,  
But his face reminds us, of a Reindeer's rear,  
Sideburns so long that, they look like a snake,  
But messing with you was his big mistake."

(Grand Pabbie and Bulda duet as the jazz music speeds up a little, the song now just turns into a giant roast of Hans)

"Cause he's, no, devil in disguise,  
He just, tells a lot of lies.  
You can hear him wail,  
Cause he's rotting in jail.

He's, no devil in disguise,  
Look at his small size,  
You punched him in his face,  
Cause he's such a disgrace.

He's, no devil in disguise,  
He's just a weird looking guy,  
His sideburns are so long,  
Cause he's got a _small_ _dong._

He's, no devil in disguise,  
He's a pesky little fly.  
He's only, a, pain,  
Cause he's got a small brain.

He's, no devil in disguise,  
Don't need to ask us why.  
He's incompetent,  
Cause he's incontinent. (Google it)

He's, no devil in disguise,  
No matter, how, hard he tries,  
He only likes to sing,  
Cause he'll never, be, King.

He's, no devil in disguise,  
He's, young and unwise  
Don't let him scare you,  
Cause he's scooping horse poo.

He's, no devil in disguise,  
You can see with your eyes,  
You've beat him once already  
Cause he's ugly and smelly

He's, no devil in disguise,  
You have to realize,  
He won't hurt you,  
Cause mentally he's two.

He's, no devil in disguise,  
Look up, into, the skies  
You wont have to hide  
Cause the stars are in line"

(Bulda and Grand Pabbie start to wrap it up. Snap fingers slightly faster)

"You don't have to fear the bad  
Hans-no-more,  
He's locked up tight behind  
a big-jail-door,  
Go to the Isles and  
Clear-your-name,  
Find out the truth and forget  
Hans's-game,  
Now is not the time to go  
Chicken-out,  
You shouldn't be filled up  
Full-of-doubt,  
Look in-side and to the challenge  
You will riiiiiiiiiiise..."

(Big pause, music stops for a slit second, big finale)

"Cause Hans ain't no devil, IN DISGUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE"

* * *

Anna, beaming, began to feverishly clap at the end of the song as if she was just attending a concert being held in her honor. Any anxiety she had felt about going to the Southern Isles before had effectively vanished, and even Kristoff and Elsa were feeling brave now.

After Hans had tried to do what he did, he was sent back to the Southern Isles and was promptly jailed by his older brothers, who then went out of their way to try to apologize to Elsa and Anna for Hans's actions. The two sisters dismissed the apologies though and wanted to never hear from the Southern Isles ever again, since they both had come within a second of dying because of Hans. Any thought of even visiting or talking to one of Hans's older brothers filled the sisters with dread, but after hearing the song, they never felt more confident in themselves.

"So did that help?" Grand Pabbie asked, catching his breath.

"Yes, immensely!" Anna assured him.

"I thought it was pretty inspiring to" Olaf added, standing next to Kristoff and Anna.

"Olaf?" Elsa asked, bewildered at seeing him standing right next to Anna and Kristoff as if he was there the whole time. "How... How did you get here?"

"I don't know" - Olaf

"How long have you been here?" - Elsa

"I don't know" - Olaf

"How did you know where we were?" - Elsa

"I don't know" - Olaf

"Why did-" Elsa started

"Elsa, something tells me the answer to whatever it is you're going to ask him will be 'I dont know', right Olaf?" Kristoff said, cutting Elsa off.

Olaf nodded and smiled. He didn't even seem to have the faintest idea of what was going on, but he was just happy to be a part of it.

Grand Pabbie got all of their attention by speaking next.

"Anna, Elsa. You must go to the Southern Isles and track down Ratatouille..." He started.

"Don't you mean Rasputin?" Anna interrupted

Grand Pabbie nodded. "Right. Yeah. Go see Rasputin in the Southern Isles and see if he knows anything that could be useful... Where your father fled from, why he fled, what he looked like before his appearance changed, or why he asked Rasputin to change his appearance..."

"Okay" Elsa responded, thankful of the help and advice the trolls had given them. She turned to Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and now Olaf. "I can have a small ship prepared for us to set sail for the Southern Isles tomorrow at around noon. When we arrive at the Southern Isles, we will keep a low profile, ask around for this Rasputin guy, and find out what we need to find out. Once we do that, we get out of the Southern Isles before anyone of concern knows we were there in the first place..."

"By 'anyone of concern', do you mean Hans, or his older brothers?" - Kristoff

"Both" Elsa responded. "The longer they don't know we are there, the better."

The gang said goodbye to the trolls and made their way back to the castle, fortunate enough to not run into any wolves along the way. They hammered out a plan for what to do along the way back to the castle. The plan was to have a small ship take them to the Southern Isles, and then sneak into the city while in disguise to avoid being detected. Once there, they would all split up into two teams to try to find the wizard Rasputin in different parts of the city. Anna and Elsa would be one team, since they were sisters, and Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven would be on the other team, since they were guys, and because Hans nor any of his brothers would know who they are and recognize them even if they blew their cover.

It was going to be difficult, and they didn't even know for sure if Rasputin was even alive or still in the Southern Isles... But they had to try.


	9. Chapter 8

Hey guys sorry for not updating in a while, its been finals week down here at UM and I have had absolutely zero time to get back on this story until now. Thanks to everyone who is still following along at this point and reviewing, yall are the best!

It was noon by the time the ship was prepared. It was a small ship by many standards, a standard sloop usually used for fishing or the quick transport of a small amount of goods. A single big mast with three smaller ones, it was the fastest type of ship that the gang could get their hands on on such short notice, and it would get them to the Southern Isles in a day or two tops. It also was the best kind of ship to use for a quick escape if it became necessary, and since time was of the essence with the royal scholars anyways, the sloop was a sensible choice.

It was called the S.S. Groot

"Do we have everything?" Elsa asked the captain for the third time in about ten minutes. She was very anxious about the path that lied ahead of them. Sneaking into the Southern Isles to find a wizard rumored to be insane definitely wasnt in her comfort zone, but she feared equally for Anna's own safety as she did her own.

"All passengers accounted for and we will be set to sail within ten minutes" The captain replied. He was an old man of the sea who knew the seas like the back of his hand. That is, the one he still had.

"Is there a particular reason why IM the only one helping to move supplies onto the ship for the trip right now?" Kristoff said, setting down a heavy crate on the deck like it was nothing."

"Hey I've been helping!" - Olaf

"Throwing rocks at fish in the ocean doesn't count as 'helping' Olaf..." - Kristoff

"Yes it does. I know that at least 4 of them were spies for Hans." - Olaf

"And how do you know that?" - Kristoff

"Because they looked fishy" - Olaf

"They're FISH Olaf. Fish are SUPPOSED to look fishy!" - Kristoff

Elsa interrupted the spat. "Why is this crate full of weapons?" She asked, examining the crate that Kristoff had just set on the deck."

"That was actually done under my orders, my Queen" The captain intervened. "It is advised that one carry something for their own defense when snooping in a place that they do not wish to be discovered..."

"Good point, I get dibs on the war hammer" - Kristoff

"I WANT ONE!" - Anna yelled from the crow's nest, sliding down the mast and scurrying over to the box of weapons. She was soon rummaging through the crate as if it was a giant box of lego's and she was looking for a very particular piece of a certain size and color.

"What is something that isn't lethal, but could seriously maim or injure?" - Olaf

"Olaf!" Elsa gasped in shock.

"I would recommend this battle axe" Kristoff smirked, handing Olaf a giant axe that was almost the size of him and almost three times his weight.

"Don't egg him on" Anna said, frowning at Kristoff and disapproving of his actions.

In reality she was mad because she wanted the battle axe for herself.

"Elsa you should consider getting a weapon for yourself to" Kristoff said. Anna nodded in approval while Olaf began swinging the axe wildly around the ship, almost throwing himself overboard in the process.

"What? No, I don't need a weapon. I have my ice powers." Elsa replied, rebuffing the thought of carrying a weapon.

"Actually my queen, that might not be a good idea." - The captain piped up once again. "If you find yourself in a situation where your cover is blown, resorting to using your ice powers could tip off the entire population that you were at the Southern Isles... Including the royal family. If you used a tool or something else instead, it would be easier to dispel such rumors should something happen." He reasoned

Elsa though shook her head.

"Im not carrying a weapon, and neither are any of you guys"

"Aww" - Kristoff

"Aww" - Anna

"AHHH" Olaf yelled. His latest attempt to swing the Axe was done with such force that he ended up being hurled with the battle axe across the entire ship.

"Elsa we don't have powers of our own to defend ourselves. And since we are splitting up into two groups, Im gonna need something to defend myself with in case things go wrong..." - Kristoff

"And I am watching your back and it would be a lot easier for me to do that if I had some sort of weapon like, oh, I dunno, maybe a sword, or a knife, or a battle axe..." - Anna

"Alright, alright fine." - Elsa relented. "Anna you can carry a small knife or something that can be easily concealed, Kristoff can carry that big war-hammer, and OLAF PUT THAT THING DOWN" - Elsa

"But I like iiiiiiit!" Olaf pleaded

"Sorry Olaf, looks like you wont be allowed to amputate anyone." - Kristoff

"Well what's the point of even going on a family adventure if I'm not allowed to mutilate someone?" - Olaf

"Geez Olaf turn it down a notch" - Anna

"Might I recommend this blow gun for the, uh, snowman?" The Captain quietly asked so that Olaf couldn't hear him, holding out a straw in his left hand.

"Umm, thats a straw." - Elsa

"Yes, but he wont know that" - The Captain reasoned.

Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and even Sven, who had been standing alongside them the entire time, glanced around at each other and seemed to think it was a good idea. None of them trusted Olaf to handle a butterknife, let alone a battle axe. Convincing him that a straw was actually a blowgun though seemed to be both doable and to be the best for everyone's safety

"Hey Olaf, why use that big bulky battle axe when you can use a mega-sick blowgun instead?" Kristoff called out. He knew how to convince Olaf of almost anything, and was far better at it than anyone else.

"Did you say a BLOWGUN?" Olaf called out, pausing from trying to remove the battle axe from the wooden deck and making his way over towards Kristoff.

Kristoff grabbed the straw and presented it to Olaf like he was trying to sell him a used car.

"Check out this puppy. It's reliable, much easier to conceal, pinpoint accuracy from 50 feet away... You can hit an enemy and knock him out without him or anyone else even knowing it was you" Kristoff said, putting one arm around Olaf and being real buddy-buddy with him.

"Go onnnnn" Olaf said, intrigued.

"You can fire all different types of ammo with it to. Sleeping darts, paralysis darts, darts that turn people into... Um... Rocks... Yeah rocks. You can customize how to deal with each enemy you come across and do so without raising any detection."

"You had me at turn people into rocks!" Olaf gleefully remarked, grabbing the straw and examining it through a random magnifying glass he had stolen like it was a prized diamond.

Kristoff smirked. That was almost too easy.

"Happy to help. Alright men, cast off the mooring lines, retrieve the anchor, and unfurl the sails! We're burning daylight!" The Captain barked out. About a dozen sailors began scurrying all over the deck and making last minute preparations, and Elsa made her way towards the front of the ship. She had never been on a ship before, she had never even had such a good look at the sea before either. In one day, she would be farther away from Arendelle then she had ever been before, and not only that, the place they were heading to was quite literally enemy territory. She was feeling nervous, and she kept her hands balled up to prevent the ice pooling in her fingertips from slipping out. All that Elsa could do was keep reminding herself that this was necessary. She was doing this for Anna, to prove that she is her true sister and deserves to stay in the palace. Anna had given up everything to her so that she could have her life, it was time to return the favor.

"Alright my Queen, we are officially at sea!" The captain called out from the other side of the ship, behind the ship's wheel.

The smell of the sea, the wind behind her, the vast expanse of nothing in front of the ship... This was all new territory for Elsa, and she was worried sick about anything and everything that could possibly go wrong... But sometimes when faced with the unknown, the only thing you can do is keep your head held high and journey onwards.

"Full sail!" Elsa called back.

* * *

Hours passed, and as the ship sailed onwards, Arendelle behind them grew smaller and smaller. Elsa watched nervously as the kingdom vanished around the scope of the Earth, and she was still very nervous about the whole ordeal they all were in. Elsa though knew more than anyone else that looking behind doesn't do any good for you in life, you have to keep looking forward.

By the time nightfall hit, there was nothing but water all around them. Elsa retired below decks and opted to eat in her room in peace while Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven ate with the crew before going to sleep

* * *

There was a loud series of knocks at the door. "My Queen, the Southern Isles are within sight."

Elsa cracked her eyes open and stretched. It was early in the morning by her standards, 7:00, but the lull of the ship at sea had rocked her to sleep as if she were in a giant crib, so she felt well rested. Anna on the other hand was snoring like a bear who put on 50 pounds before going to sleep for the winter. Her hair looked like a tiny grenade had gone off inside it. Although she slept on her own bed on the other side of the room they were in, Elsa could almost smell Anna's morning breath from where she had slept.

"Anna, its time to wake up" Elsa said, slipping out of her bed before she began to make it. "Come on we have a really huge day ahead of us..."

Anna stirred, said something about putting a dirty sock into Hans's sandwich, rolled over onto her side, and fell back asleep.

Elsa rolled her eyes and slipped into her disguise. Anna and Elsa decided earlier that it would be best to cover up as much of their heads and faces as possible, but try to not look suspicious and avoid being spotted. They would tie their hair up into buns, wear some stylish winter caps over their heads that would stretch to conceal their hair, and Elsa would wear long-sleeve pants and shirts so that no one could identify her from her pale skin.

As Anna slumbered on, Elsa tried to tie her hair into a bun, but there was so much hair that it ended up looking like she was growing a second head out of her head. She tried braiding it around her head like she used to wear it before, but the snowcap wouldn't fit over it when she tried to put it on.

(Insert several scenes of Elsa trying several different looks with her hair that make her look ridiculous)

After the 6th attempt to disguise her snow-white hair failed, Elsa could only stare at the mirror and look at herself. She had let her hair grow out a little bit over the past few months, maybe an extra inch or so, but apparently thats all it took for her to be unable to do anything else with it other than wear it in a braid. She couldn't afford to be spotted over it though, so with no other options, there was only one thing left to do...

She was going to have to give herself a haircut.

Elsa looked around for a pair of scissors but could only find a small knife. It would have to do. She stared long and hard at the mirror over what she wanted the length of her hair to be, measured out how long she wanted it to be... And then went to work.

* * *

Anna rolled around, and after almost flinging herself off the bed she finally forced herself to wake up. The sun from the one small window in the room was beaming directly onto Anna's face like a floodlight, and simply sat up in her bed rather then try to fight it.

She rubber her eyes and creaked them open. Everything was blurry and fuzzy, and when she began to regain her focus, the first thing she saw was Elsa standing at the end of her bed, she was holding a knife in one hand and was staring at the mirror, but Anna only saw the knife.

"AHHHHHHH!" Anna screamed

Elsa freaked out at hearing Anna scream, and in the resulting panic, 5 snowgies popped into existence. Worst of all though, Anna's scream threw off Elsa's aim, and she ended up cutting off a huge chunk of her hair that she was trying to trim.

"WHAT? WHAT?" - Elsa yelled, terrified at Anna's violent awakening.

Anna saw that Elsa was holding the knife to cut her hair and stopped screaming, but at seeing Elsa cut off a massive chunk of her hair, Anna pointed at Elsa's hair and screamed a second time.

Elsa looked in the mirror, saw how short she cut it, and then she screamed.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT" - Elsa

"DO WHAT?" - Anna

"SCREAM WHILE I WAS CUTTING MY HAIR?" - Elsa

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO KILL ME WITH THAT KNIFE OR SOMETHING" - Anna

"WHY WOULD I DO THAT?" - Elsa

"I DUNNO BUT I SAW THE KNIFE AND THOUGHT THATS WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO DO." - Anna

"I WOULD NEVER DO THAT!" - Elsa

"WHY ARE YOU CUTTING YOUR HAIR?" - Ana

"WILL YOU TWO KEEP IT DOWN, IM TRYING TO DRAW A MUSTACHE ON KRISTOFF'S FACE OVER HERE WHILE HE SLEEPS AND YOU GUYS ARE MAKING IT REALLY HARD TO FOCUS!" Olaf yelled from another room.

The two calmed down and collected their breath, still freaking out at how much Elsa had just screwed up cutting her hair.

"Wh-why did you cut it that short?" Anna asked

"I was just trying to cut it down to just above my shoulders, but when you screamed I jumped and cut it way higher!" Elsa responded, looking in the mirror at how short she cut it and beginning to freak out.

Anna got out of bed and went to get a closer look. Half of Elsa's hair was very well trimmed down to her shoulder on one side, but on the side Elsa was working on when Anna screamed, a massive chunk of hair was noticeably missing. It looked very bad.

"Oh my god what do I do?" Elsa said, almost on the verge of tears as she stared at the butchered half of her hair in the mirror.

"I have an idea. But, your going to have to trust me" - Anna

"What? What is it?" - Elsa

Anna chose her words carefully. "In order to, even it out, I think we should, cut the other half, to match this side" - Anna

Elsa put her left hand on the left side of her head, as if to protect the good half of the haircut she had left. "You cant be serious" She responded

"Just, here" Anna said, standing behind Elsa so that she could show her through the mirror what she was thinking. If we cut this half right to, about, right here... That'll make it look okay"

"But I, I can't cut it to that length because I can't see what I would be doing." - Elsa

"I know. Thats why... That's why I'll cut it for you." - Anna

Elsa's worries only grew larger. "You cut it?" She asked in disbelief. Anna nodded.

Elsa stared at her hair in the mirror, still on the verge of tears. She already was missing the long length of her hair like it used to be, it would take months to grow it back to that length again, maybe even years!

Anna tried to comfort her.

"Remember when Rapunzel visited your coronation a year ago how she wore her hair? We could aim for that... Except it would be a bit shorter." Anna said, casually trying to sell the idea to Elsa.

"It's way to short for that now!" - Elsa

"We have to try Elsa, the only thing we can do to fix this is to, cut more of it..." - Anna

Elsa paused. "Are you sure?"

"Just, trust me." Anna said, as she picked up the knife.

Elsa closed her eyes from fear and dread as Anna then began cutting off chunks of the other half of her hair.

* * *

Minutes passed by as Anna slowly tried to repair the damage, and as Elsa agonizingly sat still with her eyes clenched shut, Anna finally finished.

"Elsa... You can open your eyes now... I think this will work." Anna said optimistically.

Elsa cracked open one eye, and then the other. Her hair was now shorter than ever before, even from when she was a little girl. The hair on the back of her head was maybe an inch long, to where she had accidentally cut it before, but the hair on the top of her head was still long. Anna in her creativity had parted Elsa's hair from one side of her head over towards the other, compared to before where it was just pushed backwards. Elsa was freaked out, not by how bad it looked. She actually looked great. It was just so different now. Her head felt so lightweight from how much hair had been cut off, and as Elsa touched her hair with her hands and felt how short it now was in the back, she couldn't help but be freaked out at how different she looked.

But it was a good different. Anna had somehow pulled off a miracle in fixing Elsa's butchered hair job, and not only did her hair look great, Elsa even sorta liked it. She looked like she was almost 25 or 26 now, and she looked a lot more mature than she did when her hair was so grown out.

"Anna, it... It looks amazing" Elsa said, staring at the mirror. Anna let out a huge sigh of relief at hearing that Elsa liked what Anna did with it. She felt so incredibly guilty at messing up her hair in the first place that hearing Elsa's satisfaction with her attempt to fix her mistake meant the whole world to her.

"You do?" Anna asked, a stroke of happiness washing over her like a tidal wave and washing her worry away.

"It, it's different... But it looks good" Elsa reaffirmed before turning around to hug Anna. She hugged back, and both of them sighed in relief over and over again at how the whole ordeal was over.

"What are we gonna do with all this hair?" Anna asked, noticing all of the white hairs on the floor that had been cut off. There was almost a pound of it that's how much there was.

"Lets throw it off the side of the ship!" Elsa said, figuring that it would be fun to simply let it all go.

Anna beamed and the two began picking up handfuls of Elsa's hair, making sure to get as much of it as possible so that when they chuck it overboard, the wind breaks it up into a million pieces and takes it away.

They had just picked up every piece they could find when Olaf made his way through the door to their room that was already open.

"Hey guys you should see what I drew on Kristoff it AHHHHHHHHH" He screamed, looking at Elsa.

"Olaf relax!" - Anna said, trying to get him to calm down.

Kristoff then lumbered his way down the hall.

"Olaf you dingus" He said as he made his way into the room. "Why did you draw a WHOA" He added, looking at Elsa.

Elsa suddenly became worried that her hair didn't look as good as she thought it did, while Anna worried that Elsa's feelings were about to get massively hurt.

"WHY? WHY DID YOU DO IT? HOW DO YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR?" Olaf cried, snatching the hair out of Elsa's hands. "WHY DID YOU KILL THIS POOR CAT?"

Anna and Elsa were confused. "What cat?" Anna asked.

"The cat whose hair this belonged to thats who!" Olaf cried, putting the lump of hair on the ground and trying to fix it. "Its okay kitty, I'll fix you"

Elsa laughed a little. "Olaf thats not a cat, that was my hair that I cut off, see?" She said, turning around to show Olaf that her long braid was gone.

"Don't try to, what?... Oh... This is your hair... OH okay this is YOUR hair..." Olaf stammered as it sank in. "Oh phew, I thought you guys committed a murder or something!... It looks good by the way"

The three laughed, but Kristoff was still staring at Elsa's hair, or, the sudden lack of as much as there used to be.

"Kristoff? Don't you think Elsa's hair looks good to?" Anna asked, trying to coax Kristoff into saying something nice.

"What? Oh! Yeah! Yeah it, it looks, really good... Its just... Different" - Kristoff stammered

"Thanks" Elsa replied with a smile. She could tell Kristoff was telling the truth because he didn't try to force a smile, he was just genuinely surprised at how different it looked.

"Yeah I was, just, not expecting it... I was coming to get Olaf because he sat on my face to wake me up, and so, I got mad, and so, here I am, and now, there you are, with your new haircut..." - Kristoff said, trying to explain like he was being asked for his alibi.

"Okay well. Me and Anna are going to throw on our disguises, you make sure Olaf gets concealed in something to, and then we'll meet you on the deck so that we can slip into the Southern Isles and find this wizard guy." - Elsa

"Oh that reminds me, can I have a blowgun AND a battle axe for our secret mission?" - Olaf

"Olaf I told you at dinner last night, you are not allowed to charge into the Southern Isles and attack everyone you see" - Kristoff

"You just like to suck the fun out of everything don't you..." - Olaf

"Olaf, if you put on your big cloak, I'll let you throw all of this hair off the side of the ship which will be a lot of fun" - Elsa

"Okay!" Olaf dashed into the other room and began rummaging in the drawers for his disguise.

"So um, why the, uh... Why the hair cut so short?" - Kristoff asked

"It's, kind of a long story" Elsa and Anna said in unison, giggling at the end. "I'm sure Anna will tell you all about it later anyways" Elsa added.

Kristoff then went up onto the decks while Anna and Elsa slipped into their disguises. They would soon be deep within the Southern Isles

* * *

(Google 'Pixie Cut Elsa' for an idea of what her hair now looks like if you are curious)


	10. Chapter 9

The ship sailed into the harbor, and the soldiers on the ship quickly scurried about to moor the ship to the port. The sailors, like Elsa and the gang, had worn disguises as well so that they wouldn't alert anyone in the Southern Aisles that royal guards from Arendelle were in port. That would have certainly raised some eyebrows.

The ship docked without incident, and Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven all disembarked. Anna and Olaf wore cloaks that covered up most of their heads and bodies, while Olaf had wrapped himself up in a blanket and sat on Sven like a sack of potato's. Kristoff held the luxury of being able to wear whatever he wanted since no one in the Southern Isles knew who they were.

"Alright everyone" Elsa whispered to everyone else once they were all on land. "Remember, make sure to not draw attention to yourself, and to try to find this 'Rasputin' person. When they find them, one person in the group stays with him, while the other will try to find everyone else." She explained.

"Why can't I have my warhammer?" - Kristoff

"Because you dropped it on Olaf on 'accident' " - Anna

"I didn't think you could accidentally throw a war hammer across the room and hit me in the head, but its okay Kristoff I still love you" Olaf said, hugging Kristoff while being oblivious to the fact that Kristoff had tried to decapitate him.

"Anna and I will poke around the main streets. Kristoff. You, Olaf, and Sven check the lesser traveled roads and see what you can find." - Elsa

Kristoff nodded and hoisted Olaf in disguise onto Sven's back. He and Anna gave each other a quick kiss before they went down one of the side streets, before Anna and Elsa went down one of the main streets.

"Alright Elsa, you ready for this?" Anna asked.

Elsa swallowed her fears and nodded, trying to disguise her anxiety. The two stood close by each other as they made their way down the main road in the Southern Isles, hoping that nobody spotted them.

The Southern Isles was the name of the cluster of Islands that made up the Southern Isles, but the Southern Isles themselves only had one city, Urin, as its Capital city. The streets were wide and bustling, buildings crowded one next to each other that were often 3 or 4 stories tall, the roads were paved with bricks and the sidewalks with pavement. The city itself looked like Venice but with regular roads between buildings rather then canals.

"Elsa, this is... This is actually really nice" Anna whispered to Elsa, being overcome by the city's cheer and happiness.

"I suppose" Elsa replied. She was more focused on trying to find Rasputin. She had underestimated how many people there would be, and she began to feel overwhelmed at how hard finding this wizard in such a bustling city was going to be.

They made their way through the maze of people, Elsa leading Anna, as they peeked around every corner and every alley for any signs of a forsaken wizard. Elsa had decided to wear gloves so that any accident wouldn't cause her to shoot ice and give themselves away, but Elsa was still nervous that any sudden scare could cause a few snowgies to pop into existence. There was no disguise that could conceal that.

Anna had her back though. She stood close by Elsa at all times even when her eyes began to wander. Urin had lots of public spaces and fountains all around that made the city beautiful, and the markets that lined the streets made it very prosperous as well. Although winters were harsh here, Anna had expected the Southern Isles to look like apocalyptic wastelands that was overrun with ice and snow and depression.

The two made their way all around the city before Anna, while her gaze was wandering, spotted something. She craned her head to get a better look, but all she could see was a man. His skin grey, he was balding but had facial hair that cartoonishly pointed in a bunch of different directions, and he was hunched over. He propped himself up with a walking stick, and he surveyed the crowd as if he knew someone was looking for him. The man stood out from the other citizens of the Southern Isles, who were happy and tan and active. This man was the exact opposite of everyone else around him, he was disdainful and grey and stood still.

Anna tugged at Elsa's arm and casually gestured towards the man. "I think that might be him over there!" Anna whispered loudly

"How do you know?" - Elsa

"If I was a crazy wizard, I would try to look like that" - Anna

Elsa spotted who Anna was referring to, and seemed to agree with Anna's reasoning. They slowly made their way over towards the man, fighting the flow of the people around them as they tried to conceal the bee-line they made towards the wizard.

* * *

Olaf stayed hidden in the blanket, keeping one flap open so that he could see a chunk of his surroundings around them.

"Come on, let me have my blowgun back!" - Olaf

"No Olaf" Kristoff said for the 12th time

"Please! I promise I wont kill anyone!" - Olaf

"Olaf you keep shooting every person you saw, you were going to attract attention" - Kristoff

"Those people were agents for Hans!" - Olaf

"One of them was a four year old kid..." - Kristoff

"Okay he was wearing socks with sandals, he deserved it" - Olaf

Kristoff shook his head, quickly growing tired with Olaf's semantics. Kristoff spotted a group of guys in an alley hanging out and not doing anything, and Kristoff decided to ask them if they knew where to find the wizard.

"Sit right here, don't move, I'll be right back" Kristoff muttered,before casually making his way over to the group of guys.

Olaf nodded, and the second Kristoff turned his back, he hopped off of Sven and flung off his disguise. The city looked so pretty and colorful to him that he wanted to explore, not caring that people might notice that he were a snowman.

He went up the street waving at people in broad daylight and even calling out to them. Each and every person gasped and dropped whatever it was they were doing, with one horse hauling a fruit cart getting scared at the sight of Olaf, before flinging the rider on its back into a second story window. Olaf noticed some flowers on sale on the street and proceeded on sniffing each one, Kristoff still unaware that Olaf had wandered off.

He sniffed the blue ones first, they smelled like blueberries.

He sniffed the red ones next, they smelled like raspberries.

He sniffed the black ones next, they smelled like blackberries.

Olaf then realized that flowers aren't usually black.

"Wait a minute... Why are you black?" Olaf asked the flowers, as if he were expecting them to give a response.

"Whoa dude, you can't just ask something why they are black!" A voice said behind him.

Olaf whipped around to see who said that, but all he saw was a squirrel staring right at him. It had a fluffy tail and big brown eyes, it was adorable that Olaf wanted to give it a hug.

"You're so cute!" Olaf gasped before speaking to it. "HELL-O SQUIRREL-Y" he annunciated. "MY NAME IS O-LAF"

"My name is Sam, why are you talking so loud?" The squirrel responded.

Olaf's jaw almost hit the floor.

"YOU CAN TALK?" - Olaf

"No, I can only say things that come out of my mouth on my command" The squirrel responded sarcastically.

"THAT'S JUST AS GOOD!" Olaf exclaimed. "How long have you been able to talk how old are you where are you from how high can you count to whats your name" He began badgering the squirrel with questions.

"Whoa there man, take it easy. My name is Sam." - Sam

"Do you wanna know what my name is?" - Olaf

"It's Olaf..." - Sam

"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?" - Olaf

"Umm... You already told me your name was Olaf..." - Sam

Olaf picked up Sam in his stick arms and promptly began squeezing Sam to death with a bear hug "You. Are. The. Smartest. Squirrel. Ever!" Olaf grunted as Sam began to suffocate.

"Stop! Stop! For the love of all things holy please stop, you're crushing me!" Sam begged

Olaf opened his arms and dropped Sam to the ground with a thud. "I'm sorry!" He said "I get excited when I'm around animals and things who can actually talk"

"Look man, I can't stick around. I'm trying to just steal some food so that I can get out of here without getting seen." - Sam

"Well I can get you some food!" Olaf beamed. Before Sam could even ask, Olaf began sneaking around the market on the street, swiping every kind of food and fruit he could get his hands on. After not even a minute, Olaf had returned to Sam, wearing an assortment of items on his head like a giant sombrero made of food.

"Wow, you're good! You're the best I think I've seen!" Sam said, blown away by how well Olaf did in his spontaneous heist. "We should hang out" he added.

Olaf jumped up in down in glee at making a new friend. New friends were the best kind of friends to him. "Hey I know I just met you and all, but could you actually help me out with something? I'm actually looking for someone around here and I could use some help..."

"Can I help you by singing a song?" Sam asked

"YEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!" Olaf shrieked, causing several birds to fly off of buildings nearby.

"I think we're going to be the best of friends!" Sam said, before starting her musical number.

* * *

(A man on a xylophone plays the intro as Sam suddenly acts like a French tour guide)

"Here in, ze cityyyyyy,  
Life here, is prettyyyyy,  
Ze bells are all ringin',  
And ze girls are out singin'...  
People come for romaaaance  
Some come just-to-daaaaaance  
This ci-ty is great for peo-ple  
Who wear paaaaaaaaaants...

(tempo picks up quickly, start tapping your foot rather fast)

But when,  
You are,  
A squirrrrrrrel...  
Life here,  
Will make,  
You hurrrrrrl...  
You have to lie and cheat,  
And avoid all the feet,  
And try to find,  
Your next meal to eat

Cause when you are  
A squirrrrrrrrel,  
Life here sure ain't  
A pearrrrrrrl...  
You could get crushed,  
Or maimed,  
Or be detained,  
If you don't get some food  
You go to bed in shame

Cause if you are a  
Squirrrrrrrrrel,  
Life here can be a  
Whirrrrrrrrl,  
No wall too steep,  
No ditch too deep,  
You must find some food,  
In order to sleep.

Cause when you are  
A squirrrrrrrrel,  
The hair on your neck  
Will currrrrrrl  
Cause the people here  
No matter how near  
Won't spare some crumbs  
Even if your show tears

Cause even though I'm  
A squirrrrrrrel,  
More problems on-ly  
Unfurrrrrrl,  
I get in fights  
With lizards,  
As I suffer  
through blizzards  
And its all because of  
That damn old wizard!"

"That's the guy! Thats the guy I'm looking for, the wizard!" Olaf interrupted, seizing the opportunity to talk about the wizard and maybe find out some information about where to find him.

(Song resumes at a slower tempo as Sam denounces the wizard Olaf seeks)

"The wiz-ard Ras-pu-tin!  
It's not ev-en his name!  
It's the one that I gave him,  
Using all, of, my fame!  
He, was, arrogant and selfish,  
Now he's penniless and homeless.

As a child I, asked for food,  
And he gave me, an old shoe.  
So I cursed the man out,  
I called him an old fool.  
He cast a spell, on me  
Just to go and, make a scene.  
Now would you, look at me!  
A nice child I, used to be!  
But now in the mirror,  
I feel so, inferior.

That wi-zard is, not a man,  
He's a lunatic with-out a plan,  
I once was an honest girl,  
But now, I, am, a, TALK-ING,  
SQUIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREL

* * *

"Wait, you're a GIRL squirrel?" Olaf asked, completely getting caught up on that revelation and forgetting everything about the wizard.

"Yeah, I know that 'Sam' is kinda gender neutral for a name but, I am a girl squirrel..." Sam clarified.

"Is it short for Samantha, or... Samantha?" - Olaf

"It used to be, now it's just Sam... You want me to show you where you can find the wizard?" - Sam

"Oh, yeah. First let me go find my friend Kristoff and his reindeer" Olaf said, leading Sam back up the street towards Kristoff and Sven.

"You have a lot of peculiar friends don't you?" Sam remarked.

"You should see the person who created me and her sister" Olaf joked.

(30 seconds later)

"Do you think we hit our song quota for a Disney movie with that last one?" - Sam

"Probably not" - Olaf

* * *

Elsa and Anna made their way towards the oddball old man, suspecting him of being the wizard they sought. He was now just ten feet away, standing as still as a statue as the two sisters hesitantly approached him.

"Excuse me sir..." - Anna started

"I told yer I cant afford to buy any more of yer girl scout cookies" He responded, not even turning his head to glance at Anna and Elsa

"What? No. We're not here for that" - Elsa

"Hey remind me to go looking for those girl scouts selling cookies" Anna whispered.

"I know who yer are" The old man replied. "Yer them sisters from Arendelle who run the place, and one of yer almost got killed by one of the princes here or sumthin right?"

"Wait, you know who we are?" Anna asked, completely surprised that the old man had already identified them.

He turned to face both of them. One of his eyeballs were cloudy, meaning he was going blind, and the other was darting back and forth between Anna and Elsa, meaning that the old man had a crazy eye.

"Aye, I know why yer here, and I know what yer seek... Yer here to know about your mother right?" The old man asked

"Umm, our father is who we were wondering about" Elsa clarified

"Ah fiddlesticks..." The old man cursed, looking down at his own feet. "My mind aint as sharp as it used to be. Here lets get out of the streets before I throw my shoe at someone..." he added

The old man made his way into a shady looking bar, where Anna and Elsa hesitantly followed him, whispering to each other as they did.

"This guy is kind of creepy" - Anna

"But he knew who we were" - Elsa

"Yeah, that's the creepy part" - Anna

"He also knows why we're here" - Elsa

"That is ALSO the creepy part" - Anna

"Lets just see what he has to say" - Elsa

"What if this guy is just plain... You know... Cuckoo?" - Anna

Elsa ignored the question though as the two made their way through the door and followed the old man to a booth, where he sat down on one side. Anna and Elsa quickly occupied the other side of the booth across from the old man.

"So, you are the wizard we are looking for? Rasputin?" - Elsa asked

"Rasputin? Naw... My name is Lenny. Rasputin was the name given to me by a talking squirrel who I cast a spell on..." The wizard stated.

"See?... Crazy..." Anna whispered to Elsa, who responded by elbowing Anna to get her to be quiet.

"How did you know that we came to find out about our father?..." Elsa asked Lenny

"The same reason I know why the sun rises and sets every day, or why the moon always looks like its having a rough night... It just DOES" - Lenny

"That doesn't make ANY sense!" - Anna whispered to Elsa

"Can you tell us about our father?" Elsa asked,starting to grow skeptical of Lenny's sanity herself.

"I can tell yer about yer father as much as I can tell yer about what kinds of grass you should feed goats if yer want them to respect yer"

Elsa and Anna didn't know what to make of that, and they just waited for Lenny to continue.

Lenny took a deep breath, exhaled, and then spilled the beans.

"Long ago, about 20 years ish, back when I was not seen as a loon who smelled like fish, I was making an honest living for myself as a potions maker, trying to go into the medical field before I failed the MCAT. My first client was someone who had dropped a hammer on their toe, and I ended up turning them into a rock on accident when trying to fix it. The SECOND client I had was yer father and his acquaintance, who showed up at my doorstep after I figured out how I managed to screw up the previous case so badly in the first place."

Lenny paused to spit onto the floor next to him, much to Anna and Elsa's discomfort.

He continued. "The two were close friends, and looked like royalty to me since they were wearing badges of some crest on their uniforms. One of them was your father, a tall pale guy with strawberry blond hair who was skinny, the other guy was either his friend or his guard, maybe both. Huge hulking figure of a man. Broad chest, taller then yer father, could probably hoist any of us up in his arms effortlessly... They were trying to stay from being recognized since apparently they were being pursued. They asked me to change their appearance for them to the point that they would look just different enough that they could only be recognized upon careful examination...

Lenny paused a second time to spit on the floor next to them again. This time he splattered the shot, causing Anna and Elsa to scoot further into the booth so as to avoid getting even the slightest spit residue on themselves.

"I only had enough materials to change one person's identity though, and yer father's friend insisted that yer father be the one to take the potion, and he did. His hair turned much blonder, the shape of his eyes changed a tad bit, his nose extended a bit... Enough small but subtle changes that by themselves wouldn't alter someone's appearance, but together would do the trick... After that I never saw them again" Lenny finished

Anna and Elsa ran over the story in their heads a couple times to get everything to sink in. Elsa then asked the first question.

"Did our father happen to mention who it was that was purusing them?" Elsa asked

Lenny shook his head. "After he took the potion he and his friend left without saying another word. I only had time to warn yer father that taking the potion could cause some magical side effects that could be passed on to his first-born child, though I don't think it would be anything very potentially dangerous..."

Elsa and Anna's eyes widened and they exchanged nervous glances with one another... Magical side effects, passed down to the first born child?...

_Did they both just found out how Elsa got her powers?_

* * *

"When you say 'magical side effects passed down to the first born child'... Do you mean like powers to control ice and snow?" Anna asked Lenny, trying to be discreet but desperately wanting to know if she heard what she thought she and Elsa had just heard.

"I suppose its possible... Why?... Do one of yer have powers of ice and snow?" Lenny asked, growing suspicious and apparently unaware that Elsa DID in fact have magic within her. Magic that apparently came from the side effect of a potion consumed by her father before she was born.

"It's not important" Elsa interrupted, trying to cut off the conversation and get back on track. "Is there any way we can actually PROVE that our father changed his appearance... Like, prove it to royal scholars to prove that our mother didn't have an affair with someone else while Queen..."

Anna though wanted to steer the conversation a different way over Elsa's quiet protests. "Where was our father fleeing from exactly? We already know that he fled from a kingdom that was destroyed or something and that he was a knight... But that's about it"

Lenny held up a hand and got both of them to pause. "The answer to both of your questions is one in the same..." He started. "Your father fled from the land of 'Heilios', which still exists to this day. If you go to Heilios, you should be able to find evidence of your father's existence prior to me changing his appearance, and prove to whoever it is you need to convince that your father in indeed both of yer's father..."

Elsa grew worried. "Heilios?... You mean Heilios as in the forever frozen in an eternal winter Heilios that is home to people as harsh as its own environment?"

"Aye, yer know of it already?" Lenny asked.

Elsa and Anna had known about Heilios. When the two were growing up separated from each other, Anna spent most of her time screwing around in the castle and the town, while Elsa stayed inside and was taught by a personal tutor about all kinds of different subjects, including neighboring kingdoms. Heilios had an extensive history of being an unbeatable and unconquerable kingdom located in the distant north, and its warriors were unmatchable and unbeatable in combat as well. However, Heilios spent more time at war with itself than with any countries dumb enough to try to conquer it. For some reason, leadership over Heilios always turned into a bloody power struggle between ruling families whenever power was handed down from a King to his next son.

It was a place the tutor had warned her to avoid provoking at all costs should she become Queen. The one time Elsa asked her father about Heilios, he refused to give her a straight forward answer, and instead only insisted that Elsa act like the kingdom doesn't exist.

"If you want to prove that yer father changed his appearance and is the father of you and yer sister, Heilios holds the key... Not the Southern Isles..." Lenny remarked, before getting up out of the booth and heading towards the exit.

Right as he was about to make his way out the door, Lenny turned back towards Anna and Elsa. "If yer do visit Heilios" he started. "Make sure yer only just visit... Heilios is not one of those types of places where yer want to stay for very long..."

"If we go there, what do we look for?" Anna asked, after exiting the booth with Elsa behind her.

Lenny allowed a sly grin to maliciously slip across his face. "Whatever it is... You will find it... And it will be in Heilios" was all he said before whipping out the door. Anna tried to follow him out, but Lenny had somehow disappeared into the crowd outside.

Elsa followed Anna out of the tavern looking for Lenny and exchanged nervous looks. They both knew they had to go to Heilios now to find out the truth about their father, but both of them felt like they were going to be walking into a trap if they did.

But they had no choice.


	11. Chapter 10

Knowing that now they must travel to Heilios to prove Anna's royal bloodline, Elsa and Anna poked around the city looking for Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven... It was about noon, so the streets were bustling with even more activity than before.

"Elsa, how on earth are we going to find the guys in this crowd?" Anna asked, bumping into people back and forth all around her. Elsa was having the same problem, as she was ping-ponging between people bumping into her as well.

"Just, keep your eyes and ears open. If we can't see them, we may be able to hear them..." Elsa responded.

After clumsily bumping into a few more people, Anna and Elsa both overheard a woman excitedly explaining a story to her husband.

"I swear it happened! A talking snowman was being sung to by a squirrel!" She explained

"Honey I told you to stop sniffing the paint!" Her husband responded.

"But it's true! It happened right over on 7th street!" The wife pleaded.

"Mhm sure" the husband said dismissively. "Just like how 'its true' that you saw a dragon with half a tail being ridden by a boy who only had one of his feet..."

"That DID happen!" the wife angrily responded, causing an argument to ensue.

"I think she said seventh street" Anna said to Elsa, who nodded. The two, still keeping themselves shrouded, then made their way over towards Seventh street and began to try to track down Olaf, Sven, and Kristoff.

* * *

"For the last time Olaf, we can't bring a talking squirrel on our journey. We don't even know if he can be trusted!" Kristoff explained to Olaf.

"But he TALKS Kristoff!" Olaf begged. "It's a rule that if you come across a magical talking animal, you HAVE to bring it along with you on your quest. That's just SCIENCE!"

"Olaf last time a magical talking thing was allowed to join one of my journey's, _it was you_." - Kristoff

"Why do you say that like that's somehow a bad thing..." - Olaf

"Look, ummm, Kristoff is it?" Sam interrupted. "I follow one rule and one rule only in life when it comes to people... All people are terrible and I don't care for them, unless they are giving me free food, then they are great and amazing and I love them forever"

"Ducks have the same rule I think" - Olaf

"The answer is no Olaf" - Kristoff

"But Sven doesn't even talk and he gets to stay!" - Olaf

Anna and Elsa whipped around one of the street corners after someone tipped them off about where they saw a reindeer recently, and spotted the group of them. The guys didn't even notice Anna and Elsa approaching or calling for them as they made their way towards them.

"Olaf, Sven is allowed to stay because I've been with him for forever" - Kristoff

"Wait a minute, YOU'RE DATING A REINDEER?" - Sam

"What? DOES ANNA KNOW ABOUT THIS?" - Olaf

"Olaf I proposed to Anna remember?" - Kristoff

"AND YOU WERE CHEATING ON HER WITH A REINDEER THE WHOLE TIME?" - Olaf

"That's messed up man" - Sam

"Guys!" Anna interrupted. "We were calling for you the entire- OH MY GOSH IS THAT A TALKING SQUIRREL?!"

"So a snowman who is alive and talking is normal, but when a squirrel talks then suddenly that's amazing?" - Sam

"Sam this is Anna and her sister Elsa. They're the ones in charge" Olaf said to Sam, before turning to Anna and Elsa. "Can we bring him pleeeeeease?"

"Ummm" - Elsa

"YES OF COURSE WE CAN BRING HIM!" - Anna

"Anna wait, we need to think about this..." - Elsa

"Elsa come on. It's a common rule that if you come across a magical talking animal on a journey, you HAVE to bring it along with you..." Anna responded.

"TOLD YOU!" Olaf bragged to Kristoff while Kristoff rolled his eyes

"Why does he want to join us?" Elsa asked

"The same reason anyone does anything ever, to try to get food out of it" - Sam

"He is loyal to us only if we feed him, that's it" - Kristoff

"Pleeeeease let us bring him, pleeeeeease!" Anna and Olaf begged Elsa, while Sam mischievously made the cutest face he possibly could to convince Elsa to let him tag along.

Elsa had her reservations about Sam, but she was more worried about what lied ahead for them at Heilios than she was about adding another member of their group, so she rolled with it. "Fine, he can come as long a he doesn't slow us down" She reasoned.

"YESSSSS!" Olaf, Anna, and Sam said in synchronization, while Kristoff and Sven groaned.

Elsa then explained to the group what she and Anna learned from the wizard. She explained how the group would have to go to Heilios to try to prove once and for all that Anna was her true sister rather than just her half sister, and everyone accepted their new mission. The group began making their way back towards the ship, with Sam telling some of his stories to Anna and Elsa while Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven lagged behind.

"I don't trust him..." Kristoff muttered to Sven, who nodded.

"Is it because his fur is brown?" Olaf protested. "That is VERY racist of you Kristoff!"

"No not that. I just think he's untrustworthy." - Kristoff

"Well Anna think's he's good, and you trust her right?" - Olaf

Kristoff didn't respond. Olaf had stumped him with that one, so he just stuck to his gut. "Anna trusts him, I don't"

"That's why you two make such a good couple..." Olaf reasoned, catching Kristoff off guard.

"What do you mean?" - Kristoff

"Anna likes meeting new people, you don't like meeting new people...  
Anna is warm and accepting, you prefer to be closed off and isolated...  
Anna is tons of fun, you're no fun at all..." - Olaf

"What's your point?" - Kristoff

"She... Completes you" Olaf replied with a grin, only further incensing Kristoff.

He glared at Sam in front of him, who was now perked on Anna's shoulder like an extra furry parrot, just babbling away and to them and winning them to his side. He didn't trust him at all, not one bit.

_He's up to something, I know it_

* * *

The ship was restocked with supplies, and they were soon heading North to Heilios. It was about a week-long journey by sea, and much of it was spent below the decks watching the surrounding mountains pass by through tiny windows. Heilios lied so far to the north that the land was subjected to almost permanent winter, with there only being three or four weeks in summer where snowfall only reached 4 inches a night. The rest of the year snowfall regularly hit 9 inches of snow a night. It was a cruel place to live, and it was a place where only the harshest and strongest-willed people could hope to survive. Nobody outside of Heilios even knew how the country managed to sustain itself, since few people that even wanted to travel to Heilios were allowed to go deep inside. Heilios was liek the Southern Isles in that it only had one major city controlling a surrounding patch of territory, but Heilios's population was just as large as any other city-state around them, despite the fact that it was impossible to grow crops outside.

The whole land was shrouded in mystery, and from what Elsa could find out about it in the few books she had on the ship, the few people who knew anything about Heilios warned to avoid it as much as possible, even ignore it's existence. The blind worry about what was in store for them would cause the ice in Elsa's veins to slide towards her fingertips whenever she thought about the place.

"The snow glows white on the mountains tonight,  
Not a Heilios, to be seeeeeeeen" - Olaf started singing in one part of the ship

"Olaf if you start another song I will throw you overboard" Kristoff called out, shutting the whole thing down.

"Why are you always such a butt?" - Sam called out

"Because it's 8AM AND I'M TRYING TO SLEEP" - Kristoff

"Kristoff stop yelling, people are trying to sleep!" - Olaf

Elsa sat in her bed reading a book while Anna continued to slumber in her own bed. Elsa had been up for an hour already, and they weren't expected to reach the port of Heilios until at least noon, so there was no reason for anyone to be awake so early. Because Elsa was already awake though, she made herself comfy and read some books to pass the time, since reading always calmed her nerves.

She was interrupted by a knock at their door. Thinking it was the captain, Elsa tidied herself up a little before letting the person enter.

"Okay you can enter" Elsa called out.

The door opened up a creak, it was Sam.

"Hey can I stay in here for a bit? Kristoff and Sven have turned their room into a barn, Olaf keeps hugging me to death like a pillow when he sleeps, and there aren't really any other places for a girl to sleep comfortably around here, even for a squirrel..." Sam asked

Elsa knew full well of the squalor that Kristoff kept his room in. She was horrified the first time she walked into Kristoff's room when he was in the castle, there was so much stuff everywhere that she couldn't even spot the floor.

"You can come on in. It's girls only in here anyways" Elsa said, inviting sam inside.

"Oh thank you" Sam said, closing the door behind him and dashing into the room. Sam didn't have any powers, but as a squirrel she was lightning quick and was only a brown furry blur when she dashed somewhere. She quickly nestled up into a ball at the end of Anna's bed on top of the covers.

"Oh you might not want to rest right there" Elsa warned her. "Anna has a tendency to kick really hard in her sleep"

(Cut scene to a past incident of Anna accidentally kicking Olaf out of a castle window where he screams as he falls to the ground. 'Did you say something?' Anna sleepily asks)

"Thanks for the tip" Sam said, before dashing to the end of Elsa's bed. "Is right here okay?" She asked. Elsa had her reservations about Sam before, but after seeing how polite Sam behaved, she was beginning to warm up to her

Elsa nodded and smiled "You'll be safe there"

"Okay good, I wouldn't want to be punted into the ceiling by Anna in her sleep... I think Kristoff wants to be the one who does that" - Sam

Elsa chuckled. "He's just suspicious, he'll come around"

Elsa turned back to her book while Sam dozed off at the foot of her bed. The peace would only last about ten minutes before the door to their room barged open.

"I CAN'T FIND SAM" Olaf cried out, freaking out everyone in the room.

Anna lurched upwards and fell out of her bed, Elsa almost threw the book she was reading while 3 snowgies popped into existence, and Sam had jumped so high that she was now clinging to the wooden ceiling in the room as if everything below her was now lava.

"Oh there you are." Olaf said, relaxing.

"Olaf get out of the room! I'M NAKED!" Sam cried out.

"OH, OH SORRY. SORRY IM SORRY!" Olaf called out, shielding his eyes from Sam.

"CLOSE THE DOOR! CLOSE THE DOOR!" Sam yelled

Olaf slammed the door shut and ran down the hall as fast as he could, crashing into something at the end of the hall with a loud bang.

Sam chuckled. "I didn't think that would work" She said, before letting go and falling onto Elsa's bed below her. "I'm a SQUIRREL, I'm always naked" Sam said with a snicker. It was a high pitched little squeal that only an adorable talking squirrel could make.

"Even her laugh is adorable!" Anna said, recovering from the hard fall she took. She picked herself up and sat back onto her bed, tending to her hair.

"Hey what are those things?" Sam asked, looking over the side of the bed. The three snowgies that Elsa spawned were clamoring around the side of the bed to get a look at Sam.

"Oh yeah, umm... I may or may not have powers of ice and snow" Elsa explained.

"And when she gets startled she accidentally makes those things" Anna added, amused at the site of the little guys yipping at the foot of Elsa's bed.

"Are they harmless?" Sam asked, noticing that the little guys didn't have any arms and were only a couple inches tall

"Yep" Anna nodded, wide awake now

Sam carefully lowered herself down the side of the bed, clutching Elsa's covers as she did so. The snowgies clamored around Sam, excited at the site of her to the point that they were now jumping up and down as high as they could. Sam sniffed a few of them and slowly lowered himself further down to their level. Elsa and Anna watched in curiosity, it was like they were watching a little nature documentary taking place right in front of them.

Sam dropped down to the floor and the three snowgies enveloped her, each of them trying to hop on Sam as if they were cowboys trying to ride a bull. Elsa and Anna feared for Sam's safety since she looked like she was getting mauled, but Sam skillfully thwarted the snowgies. She restrained one using her tail and used it as a wrecking ball to knock the other two away from her. After several rounds, she released the third snowgie and began darting between them as they continued to try to envelop her. Like a kung fu master, Sam used her feet, arms, and tail to knock the snowgies away from her, putting on quite a show for Anna and Elsa who were watching in amazement.

After a couple minutes, the snowgies realized they were vanquished and held still in exhaustion. Two lied on the floor where Sam had knocked them down, and another was sitting upside down against a dresser where Sam had roundhouse kicked is against. All the snowgies were frowning and groaning after the furious butt-whipping that Sam had given them, while Sam stood in between them all in a fighting pose as she panted.

After it became apparent that the snowgies had given up, Sam relaxed her stance and climbed back onto the foot of Elsa's bed with a huge smile on her face.

"Those guys gave me quite the workout" Sam said before curling up.

"That was AMAZING!" Anna exclaimed, feeling like she had just watched an epic pay-per-view boxing event.

"How did you learn to do that?" Elsa asked, astounded at Sam's ferocity.

"Part of being a squirrel is knowing that you're not at the top of the food chain and knowing how to defend yourself against predators..." Sam explained. She had had her fair encounter of fights with large birds, snakes, and other large animals in her time in the Southern Isles, so her amazing speed and fighting skills weren't something she just happened to have. They were actually the product of years of training and fighting for her life she had endured when she had been turned into a Squirrel by the wizard when she was 6. She spent 6 years a human, and 9 as a squirrel, though only she would ever know that.

"Well I don't know about you but I feel much safer now knowing we have Sam coming along with us." Anna said to Elsa as she went to go change out of her pajamas.

Elsa shared Anna's belief. Elsa had believed that Sam might be a liability when she first allowed her to come along, but after seeing that display, Elsa thought she could prove to be even more useful than Olaf or even Kristoff.

"When's breakfast?" Sam asked

Elsa laughed. "We'll eat breakfast soon enough" she responded. For just the price of some free food every now and then, Elsa figured that Sam would be a great ally to have on their side just in case things go bad in Heilios.

She still worried greatly about what laid in store for them upon their arrival though. What if they couldn't prove Anna's bloodline there? What would she do if they returned home empty handed and Anna and Kristoff married?

Ice began pouring into the fingertips of Elsa's fingers to the point that Elsa was sure she was just moments away from a potential accident. She turned her head back into the book she was holding and furiously began to read, trying to distract herself from her fears as their ship sailed closer and closer towards the mountainous region of Heilios. The book she was reading was a geographical description of the capital city that they would be visiting. It was a short distance by land away from the shore, and was dotted on all sides by immense mountains.

One mountain though had its name written in large ink, almost as large as the Capital City itself. It was the largest mountain in Northern Europe, making the North Mountain look like a meager stone. It triumphed over all the surrounding mountains and its top was regularly shrouded by cloud cover. It's name though sounded ominous, one meant to be frightening rather than be a moniker for its size.

_Mt. Khan_


	12. Chapter 11

(Sorry I haven't posted in a while guys, I've been dealing with a wicked case of Writer's Block and summer job hunting has proven to be far more time-consuming and exhausting than I originally anticipated. The fact that I'm still unsure of how to end this thing also isn't helping. Thank you to everyone still reading this though!)

* * *

Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, bagels, omelettes, sausages, crepes, french toast, and muffins... And that was just Sam's plate. Everyone else at the table opted for just two or three of the foods Sam was currently devouring, and they all sat in silence and watched as Sam attacked the mountain of food on her plate the same way a Lion attacks a Hyena that is threatening its one cub. There was just a blur of brown fur zipping around the pile of food on the plate that slowly but surely began to shrink in size, the only sound that could be heard was Sam sinking her teeth into whatever she decided to take a huge bite out of.

Even Kristoff felt a little threatened.

"Sam you might wanna slow down there and CHEW your food" Kristoff replied, after a piece of scrambled egg was flung from Sam's plate onto Kristoff's face, in which Sam pounced on it to take it back.

"Where are you putting all of that anyways?" Olaf asked, confused at how a squirrel the size of... well, a squirrel... was eating a pile of food 7 times its own weight.

"I'm putting it in my stomach!" Sam called out, spraying food as she talked. She had absolutely no dinner manners and was rubbing Elsa the wrong way as a result. Anna on the other hand was secretly trying to conceal her laughter at the spectacle.

"Yeah but if you keep eating, your stomach just might explode!" Kristoff cautioned

Sam stopped in her tracks. "If I could pick my own way to die, having my stomach explode sounds like a pretty good way to go..." She replied, before resuming her conquest of the mountain of food on her plate.

"Sam, if you're going to stay with us for the foreseeable future, then you're going to have to learn to control yourself when you eat..." Elsa warned

"The only way that could happen is if I suddenly lost my appetite" - Sam

"I KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!" Olaf suddenly yelled out. He then hopped onto the table and hobbled over towards Sam, stepping on everyone else's food in the process. "I learned this little trick a while ago and was wondering when it would come in handy.

Olaf picked up a piece of bread, and peeled off the crust of it. He HATED the crust on his bread. He then put the crust in his mouth, and chewed on it 4 or 5 times.

Then, he stood perfectly still, nothing happening at all.

"Umm Olaf..." Kristoff asked, wondering what was going on. "When is this trick of yours going to-"

Olaf then interrupted Kristoff by throwing up all over Sam's food, along with Sam herself. The vomit wasn't actual vomit though, it was just snow. Snow that was indistinguishable from any other kind of snow, except that it had come from out of Olaf's mouth.

Sam, was HORRIFIED. She stood perfectly still in fear, anger, disgust, and even more fear, as she observed the snow throw up all over her and the food she was about to eat. Sam then slowly moved away from the food the same way someone wearing a cold, wet t-shirt would move to avoid getting colder than they already were, while everyone else simply watched.

"Olaf did you just THROW UP all over Sam?" Anna asked, bewildered

"I told you that i REALLY don't like the crust on bread..." Olaf responded with a mindless smile.

Kristoff got up from his seat and used his own sleeve to wipe the snow off of Sam, who was slowly filling up in rage at Olaf for spoiling her feast.

"I. Am. Going. To. KILL. HIM." Sam whispered to herself that only Kristoff could hear.

"Don't worry... I'll help you" Kristoff replied with a wink. Anna took Sam's plate that had Olaf vomit on it and took it away to be thrown out, while Elsa resumed finishing her own breakfast, having regained her own appetite now that she didn't have to watch Sam attack the pile of food in front of her like a wild boar.

In two hours time, they would be docking at Heilios.

* * *

There are two kinds of winter in the world, and even someone who has never really lived through cold winters can notice the differences between the two of them. On one hand, you have the "Fresh" winters. These are the ones that just arrived. They fill people with excitement at the change of scenery, only the whitest snow falls and lays on the ground, the wind brushes against your face to gently remind you that the season has changed, and overall the fresh winter offers you more opportunities to live life to the fullest and happily partake in adventures not possible during other times of the year, forging memories that will last the test of time itself.

The other kind of winter though is the Harsh winter... The ones where the wind doesnt casually brush up against your face, it batters it like an army laying siege to a fortress. Snow doesn't carefully fall onto the ground and invites you to come play in it, it plasters the ground and tries to bury people alive until they suffocate. While Fresh winters allow people to joyfully experience the new season, Harsh winters force people to take shelter inside and beg that Spring hurries the heck up, while making them wonder why they live in such an unforgiving place at all.

Heilios was home to such harsh winters. Visibility was always limited as snow always fell in sheets, and because the blasting winds tried to weld your eyes closed with a frozen fury. The same winds howled throughout the valley that Helios was situated in, calling out that those who went outside would meet a terrible frigidly cold death. Not even Elsa, the snow queen herself, could find the winter conditions in Heilios tolerable, and she soon began layering up in what few long sleeves clothes she had brought in order to brace herself for what lied outside the ship.

Winter had arrived only a few weeks earlier, but it would only be a matter of time before the oceans allowing them into the port of Heilios would freeze over. Elsa could thaw the ice out, sure, but if the ocean ice damaged the hull of the ship in the process of becoming frozen, there would be nothing she could do to fix that, and then she and the rest of the gang would potentially be marooned in Heilios for the entirety of their 9 to 10 month winter. Or at least until they could find another ship.

Either way, they had to find what they were looking for to prove Anna's bloodline, whatever it might be, and leave as soon as possible.

The ship pushed chunks of ice in the waters out of its path as it inched into the docks of Heilios, which were small, disorderly, and poorly maintained. There were few spaces to even moor the ship to the pier, since no one in Heilios was wealthy enough to own a boat, let alone manage to keep one in the harbor without it being destroyed.

The docks were in just as bad shape as the houses. All were made of stone since it was too cold for trees to grow in the city, and the snow piled up around the houses on all sides to the point that the snow looked like they were swallowing houses whole. Without routinely digging out the snow, a house could meet that very fate. Elsa watched her step very carefully as she stepped off the ship and onto the pier, with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Sam and Sven following behind her, with the help of a few guards.

The houses in Heilios were very few in number and sparse. With the wind being as unruly as it was, a person who strained their eyes could only make out 5 or 6 houses at a time, the whipping of the wind in one's face along with the bright shine from the snow was almost blinding.

The whole town looked as if it was encased in a tomb of depression and hopelessness.

"Whoa, now THIS is what I expected the Southern Isles to be like..." Anna said to Elsa, raising her voice so that Elsa could hear her over the wind.

"This place looks so depressing... How could anybody want to live here?" Kristoff wondered out loud

"Maybe someone who hates the sun... And people... And life itself..." Olaf responded.

"Where are we going to go?" Sam asked. Although she stayed away from Anna while she was asleep, Anna and Sam quickly became besties, and Sam was now huddled in between Anna's neck and her left shoulder, trying to stay warm in the blizzard.

"I sent a messenger out when we first landed." Elsa replied "We should be meeting with someone very soon who will take us to the castle of the royal family here in Heilios, from there we can start our search"

"Is that him there?" Kristoff asked, pointing behind Elsa.

They all strained their eyes to see a figure making its way towards the group. It was just one person, and it was definitely a person. About 5'9", too big to be a dog, and too small and thin to be anything else. It stumbled towards the group as they continued to strain their eyes to make out the person approaching them, for the wind was growing stronger and was making it increasingly difficult for them to keep their eyes open without being stung by the frigid cold. Sam had given up on trying to make out the figure, and instead balled up into a little ball on Anna's shoulder to keep trying to stay warm. Kristoff meanwhile couldnt handle the pain of the snow darting into his eyes from the wind and had to break off his gaze, while Olaf wasnt even looking in the right direction. Instead facing back towards the ship and looking for the same figure everyone else had seen.

As the figure drew closer, it began to come more and more into focus. It was a guy wearing a weathered hood over dark black clothing. As he came closer, Elsa could see that his hair was also black, and that the man himself was rather pale, almost as white as the snow whipping in their face.

He called out to them.

"Are you the party of Queen Elsa?" He yelled. "I am here to take you to the Castle of Brodermord!"

It was the Brodermord family who ruled Heilios, Elsa remembered that from her studies from long ago. She had no idea though who the current ruler even was though, and what they would look like.

"Who are you?" Anna asked, managing to crack open one eye long enough to see who was speaking to them.

The man pulled back his hood and held it down with one hand while using the other to shield his eyes from the winds but still see who he was talking to. Elsa first noticed his hair, which was was short and unkept, pushed over casually towards one side before being messed up by the blizzard, but was as black as the midnight sky. The bits of snowflake that got caught in his hair only stood as a testament to how dark the hairs on his head truly were. Elsa next noticed his eyes, which were striking blue, like that of a freshly cut glacier. They were piercing and sharp, and had it not been for the blizzard they were now in, the man;s eyes would have been the first thing Elsa noticed, and from a mile away.

His nose was small and did not raise far out from his face, and his teeth were as white as his hair was black, almost making the snow all around them look inferior in color. A brief lapse in the blizzard afforded Elsa just enough time to truly get a good look at the man she was facing.

He was _cute!_ Not fall-over-yourself hot or you-suddenly-get-real-sweaty hot, but not bad looking at all either. He was the kind of cute that if a girl got into a crowded elevator with him and had to press up against him due to the limited space, it would be about 20 seconds of heaven. He was more adorable than anything else though, he barely looked like he was the same age as Elsa, even though he was. His dark hair contrasted with bright eyes ad white teeth very pleasantly.

He also had what appeared to have a scar on his cheek that ran about an inch from just to the left of his nose towards the top part of his left ear. It was a shame because it was the only blemish on his face.

The winds picked back up and knocked Elsa out of her trance back into reality.

"Y-Yes... I am Queen Elsa" She called out to the man, even though he was only standing 3 feet in front of her. She could barely hear herself over the winds.

"My Name is Eric Brodermord!" He replied. "If you could follow me, we won't have to freeze to death out here in the snow!" He added

"Works for me!" Kristoff said, being the first to walk towards Eric. Everyone else followed suit, and Eric quickly led the eager gang towards the direction of the mountain that watched over Heilios, Mt. Khan. The mountain itself was shrouded in cloud cover due to the storm, and legend had it that nobody had ever seen Mt Khan whole since the weather in Heilios never cleared up enough to allow one to see it.

At the very base of the mountain, past a few dozen wooden houses on their way, lied what appeared to be the entrance into the castle. Except there was no castle. The entrance was 30 feet high and made of stone, but it just led straight into the mountain. It looked like a bunker or a piece of a giant wall more than anything else, but they followed Eric towards it.

As they approached, the giant doors that went all the way to the roof swung open, offering a refuge from the now-pounding winter winds outside. Torches illuminated the inside of the entrance all the way up to the ceiling. The walls were bare and only showcased the stones used to construct the walls, but what was eerie was just how warm it was inside the building. The torches alone could not have made the inside as warm as it was, it simply wasn't possible, it had to have been coming from somewhere else.

There was something about this place that was fishy, but everyone was just thankful to be inside and not in the storm.

"Ahhhh, it's nice in here" Olaf said, earning a surprised look from Eric who had not noticed the talking snowman in the storm.

"Youuuuu have a talking snowman with you?" Eric asked, looking incredulously at everyone else with them.

"Yep, this is Olaf-" - Kristoff

"Hi, my name is Olaf and I like warm hugs!" - Olaf replied, cutting off Kristoff

"-and he likes warm hugs" Kristoff finished.

"Well hi Olaf! It's really nice to meet you!" Eric said back with a smile. He didn't even miss a beat when meeting Olaf, and adjusted to the fact that he was a magical talking snowman very well, especially compared to other people before, who usually responded by screaming and running away, or trying to stab him to death with a pitchfork.

"Hi, I'm Sam and I like food" Sam said, shaking off the snow from the storm and perking up on Anna's shoulder like a parrot.

Eric still smiled and flashed his bright white teeth as he greeted Sam, not even seeming surprised that there were TWO magical talking sidekicks in their party.

"And what is your name?" Eric asked Sven, expecting him to talk as well

"Oh this is Sven. He... He doesn't talk" Kristoff explained.

Eric almost seemed let down. "Awww that's too bad"

Anna intervened. "This is Sven, Kristoff, Olaf, I'm Anna, this is Sam, and this is Elsa" She said, gesturing towards every person as she named them.

Eric nodded. "Okay it, uh, might take me some time to get all of your names remembered, but its great to meet all of you!" He flashed his smile again. Elsa's heart fluttered a little, and she immediately began to like seeing his smile, but her gaze kept being drawn to the scar on his left cheek. She couldn't tell before outside, but now she could see that the scar on his face still looked rather red, indicating that he had actually gotten it very recently.

"Yes, so, Eric right?" Elsa asked

"Yes, Eric Brodermord of House Brodermord. Third in line for the crown after Tyrus and Julius Brodermord. Welcome to Heilios!" He answered, responding almost like a tour guide at a popular travel destination.

"Great, so where is the castle you live in?" - Anna

"Yeah I didn't even see it when you led us here" - Kristoff

"I'll take you there!" Eric said, almost excitedly. "You know you guys are the first people to be allowed in here" He added

"Really? Why is that?" - Elsa

Eric motioned to them to follow him down the hall. They followed as he explained.

"Well, my brothers who run the place... They don't really take well to 'outsiders'..." He started. "They are kind of suspicious and wary of the outside world and are more concerned with their own desires than they are of foreign matters such as diplomacy and trade..."

"Yeah we could tell, there wasn't a single other ship in the dockyard when we arrived..." - Sam

"How'd you get that scar on your cheek?" Kristoff asked.

"Kristoff!" Elsa gasped. She was wondering how he had gotten it himself, but she felt it was too rude for her to ask, since he might be self-conscious about it. Elsa surely would have been self-conscious about it if she had a mark like that on her face, which is why she didn't decide to ask Eric about it.

"Oh that, that, was, that was just, nothing really" Eric said, getting flustered.

Anna moved over towards Elsa, who was trailing in the back of the group, and nudged her with her elbow. Elsa looked at her to see what Anna wanted, but all she did was gesture towards Eric. 'He's cute!' she mouthed to Elsa, not actually saying the words so that nobody could hear her. Elsa shook her head and tried to act like she disagreed with Anna, but Anna knew her to well and saw through her charade.

"He looks pretty hot" - Sam said, knowing what Anna was saying to Elsa but keeping her own voice down so that only the two of them could hear her.

"EW!" Anna replied.

"What?" - Sam

"You're a squirrel!" - Anna

"So? All I said was that he's cute, not that I want to-" - Sam

Elsa shushed them so that nobody else would hear them. Eric, Olaf, and Kristoff were all talking about something else at the moment, and the last thing Elsa wanted to do was interrupt them or bring attention onto herself due to girl-gossip.

"You're a squirrel, you can't be attracted to guys!" - Anna

"Just cause I'm a squirrel it doesn't mean I have to be attracted to someone to think they're cute. I'm not attracted to shoes but I know a cute pair when I see one!" - Sam replied

"Guys do you feel that?" Elsa asked, interrupting them. As they followed Eric deeper down the passageway, the temperature inside was climbing higher, even though the number of torches along the walls remained the same. They picked up the pace to catch up with the group of guys in front of them before they noticed that they had splintered off.

"-And so that's how I found out that I don't need to go to the bathroom" Olaf said, finishing a story he had started while Elsa, Anna, and Sam had dropped behind.

"That's, fascinating!" Eric said, clearly trying to hide a laugh.

"Yeah, it took 2 weeks to clean the castle after that incident though" Kristoff added.

Eric let out a giggle. It was weird though because it wasn't a guy-laugh that was loud or booming like Kristoff's was. Instead it was a more high-pitched cackle that sounded more adorable than it did manly. Eric's laugh was as cute as he was, and when Anna nudged Elsa with her elbow again, Elsa didn't even noticed that she was grinning at hearing Eric's laugh. Elsa recollected herself and stuffed away her juvenile feelings, but Anna now smiled because she could see clear as day that even though Elsa was trying to hide it, she found Eric kind of cute.

"Is it getting warmer in here?" Kristoff asked, asking the question everyone else was already thinking.

"Yeah um, that's the other reason why my brothers don't really let visitors inside here." Eric added.

"Where are we going?" Elsa asked.

Eric continued his explanation. "A lot of people wonder how Heilios sustains itself and how the city manages to even feed itself since it's too cold outside to grow crops. The answer has always been kept a secret, but we are revealing it to you guys since you are royalty who are here on official business..." He elaborated.

They arrived at the end of the tunnel. The torches illuminated a gigantic stone gate, just as massive as the ones that stood at the entrance to the building. A handful of guards swung them open as the request of Eric, and as the doors opened, a wave of heat blasted the visitors the same way the shivering cold in the storm outside did when they first landed.

The group had raised their hands in front of their faces to protect themselves form the heatwave, and as they lowered their hands they looked inside the doors, gasping at what they saw.

"Mt. Khan isn't really just a mountain..." Eric explained. "It's a volcano"

The inside of Mt. Khan had been hollowed out and turned into a city, the true city of Heilios. The inside of the volcano looked like a giant sphere, with homes and buildings being carved into the walls of the volcano that were nearly vertical, farmland being located lower in the volcano where the land grew a little flatter, and the very bottom of the volcano lay untouched, due to the heat becoming too intense to be used for anything. The homes and buildings carved into the walls of the volcano stretched all the way around the mountain, as far as the eye could see. Many of the buildings looked to be hanging from the roof of the volcano walls themselves, when in reality they were just built on top of other buildings below them in a ways to make the most out of the space within the mountain as they could. The largest single building within the walls was the palace where the Brodermord family resided, which was just ten times larger than any other building inside the city, located just above them that overlooked the entire city

The farms meanwhile were not like the wide-expanses of fields you might think of when imagining crops like corn or wheat that dot the American midwest. Inside the volcano, the farms here snaked around the edges of the walls much like how rice-paddies are carved into hills, many of them only 10 feet wide before dropping down a few feet to another farm field. (Google it to get a good idea of what that looks like). These ridges of farmland grew all sorts of crops in the volcanic rich soil, and was the secret to how the city of Heilios managed to sustain and feed a population of 100,000, a population that 99% of which lived inside this one volcano while only some lived in the frigid winters outside.

The entire city was lit via torches, that illuminated the inside of Heilios in a fiery red light. Even the very roof of Heilios, which was too high and slanted to support the construction of any homes or buildings, was illuminated by all the torchlight from the city below. At the very top of the mountain was an opening, an opening that was several football fields why but from the group's perspective looked only a few feet wide. It was through this opening that all of the inner heat and CO2 from people breathing escaped, and where oxygen entered, allowing for life inside the mountain to even be possible in the first place. For water, the city brought in tons and tons of snow from other large tunnels that were carved through the outer walls of the mountain, where people would use the natural heat from the volcano to melt the snow down into fresh water and using it for all of their needs and for growing crops as well.

The very bottom of the open sphere was a different story though from the heavily populated middle section. At the bottom, below where the farm regions ended, was where the heat from the volcano grew too intense for people to stand or survive it. Below the cluster of broken rocks that made up the rocky floor of the hallowed out mountain, miles below, was where the pocket of magma that was generating all of the heat lied, the heat that rose up through all of the rocks into the hollowed out volcano before exiting at the opening at the top of the mountain.

"Everyone..." Eric said, turning around to everyone behind him who were staring in awe of the city they found themselves in. He opened up his arms wide as if he was presenting to a crowd at the Coliseum in Rome. "I welcome you all to the city of Heilios... Also known as, The City of Fire"


	13. Chapter 12

"The City of... Fire?" Elsa asked nervously, suddenly feeling out of her element. She wasn't comfortable with visiting Heilios to being with, but now that she was staring right into the heart of the city of fire, being the ice queen was no longer as comforting as it once was.

"Well... Only we call it that, since no one ever really visits here..." Eric replied, trying to remain upbeat and not come off as ominous or intimidating.

Two guards suddenly approached the group. They were Heilios guards, but they looked nothing like the guards of Arendelle. These men were heavily armored, to the point that they could barely even turn their head to look behind themselves... Yet for some inexplicable reason they carried no weapons. They looked as if they were trained to take numerous hits, but not be able to counter attack.

"Sir Eric" One guard stated. "Your older brothers wish to see you immediately"

Eric, looking warm and upbeat just moments ago, suddenly lost color in his face. His smile vanished, his eyes widened, and he seemed almost alarmed at the news.

"Why? I didn't, what did, why?" He stammered, visibly shaken at the news.

"They didn't bother to tell us, but both of them wish to talk to you" The guard said, before they made their way back to the castle.

"Oooooooh boy this can't be good... Not good not good..." Eric muttered to himself.

"Is everything alright?" Kristoff asked, noticing Eric's nervousness.

"What? Oh yeah, you guys will be fine, it's me I'm worried about" Eric replied, before turning his head away from kristoff and keeping his mouth shut. He acted like he had just let something slip out that wasn't meant to be heard. "Just, follow me. I'll take you up to the castle."

Eric darted around a corner of the entrance, and after the rest of the group exchanged glances with each other, they followed Eric. Around the corner, Eric led them up a number of stairs and streets that led all the way up to the Brodermord palace, which sat high up in the interior of the volcano and overlooked the city. It dwarfed every other building around it, but what was more intimidating about the building was the murals of fire and lava located all around the outside of it. Elsa squinted at the decor on the outside of the palace and her worry only manifested itself within her. Being the ice queen in the city of fire was one thing, actually going into the centerpiece of the city of fire that was decorated with carvings of fire and lava all over it as the ice queen was much worse.

"Man the people around here sure don't look happy" Sam said to the group, spying some citizens of Heilios around them.

Elsa snapped out of her gaze of the palace high up in the inside of the volcano to glance at some of the people around them. Many of the people of Heilios wore rags for clothes, rags that were stitched together simply because it was all they had to make and repair clothing. They also looked very malnourished, which unbeknownst to Elsa or anyone else in the group was because there were very few animals that could be raised for food in Heilios due to the limited space. Everyone in Heilios had to rely chiefly on fruit and vegetables for food, with only the wealthiest people being able to afford eggs or even chicken.

People were also coughing quite a bit. Those who toiled deep down towards the bottom of the volcano were more exposed to the heat and emissions from the bottom of the volcano, which took a heavy toll on their lungs. It was also the poorest people who had to do the dangerous work and lived deep down towards the volcano, while those who were wealthier and more fortunate lived and worked higher up in the city, away from the intense fumes and the heat.

"They don't look too good" Anna said, feeling sorry for the people she saw and wishing she could help them.

"Let's just find what we need and get out of here" Elsa said, as the group kept up with Eric ahead of them.

The trip wasn't too long and arduous, but after many minutes of climbing up stairs, and uphill paths, and stairs, and even more stairs, the group finally made it to the royal palace. It was smaller than the Arendelle castle that they all resided in, but compared to the rest of the buildings in the city, the Brodermord castle in Heilios was as big as it could have possibly been.

The palace was lined with several dozen guards, all of them wearing heavy armor but themselves not carrying any sort of weapon, which continued to befuddle Elsa, since what was the point in having so many guards if none of them had anything to defend the castle with? Also, why were there so many in the first place?

The inside of the palace was lavish. In stark contrast to the buildings outside with cracks all along the walls that were coated in dirt, the entrance room of the palace was adorned with carpeting and curtains of the highest quality. All of them were decorated with geometrical patters of yellow and gold, but in a certain type of light, they actually looked like they were blue and black. Large doors on each wall led into other rooms, some of which were carved deep into the mountain walls itself, helping anchor the palace in its place high above the city. Torches lit up the inside of the palace to the point that it almost looked like the room was illuminated by natural sunlight, which gave the place a more cozy and welcoming atmosphere than the reality of the world outside.

"Welcome to Castle Brodermord!" Eric said, after guards closed the doors behind them. "If you just follow me, I'll take you right to the palace library and we can see if-"

"Eric! What have you done thissssss time?"

Everyone's heads whipped to the left, where one of Eric's older brothers stood, as if he was waiting for him to show up.

"T-tyrus..." Eric stammered. "I didn't see you there-"

"No you wouldn't, since you rarely notice anything about your ssssssurroundings... Why have you let outsiders into our PALACE?" Tyrus hissed, as Eric became visibly shaken.

"They, well, they need, they came to-" Eric stammered

"We are here from Arendelle just to-" Elsa interjected

"Silence!" Tyrus snapped at Elsa. "I wasssss not talking, to _you_"

Elsa was too surprised at the incredibly disrespectful response to know what to do next, as were several other people in the group. Anna and Sam though were ready to start throwing punches. _Nobody_ talked to Elsa like that!

Tyrus turned back to Eric. "I was hoping that after your last little, incident, you would learn to be more careful around here" He hissed, gesturing towards the scar on Eric's face with the back of his finger, much to Eric's discomfort.

"That is enough Tyrus"

The booming voice came from the other side of the room. Eric's other brother, Julius, the oldest of the Brodermord brothers and current ruler of Heilios had entered the room when everyone's attention had turned to Tyrus. Although their voices were very different, with Julius speaking like a lion and Tyrus like a snake, they both looked quite similar, almost like twins. They were both taller than Eric by at least 6 inches, they were much paler than Eric as well, looking almost albino, and both of them wore a permanent scowl on their faces. Both their eyes were green where Eric's were blue, their teeth substantially less whiter than Eric's, and their hair cut much shorter than Eric's as well, looking more like actual soldiers than royalty. The crown that Julius wore on his head was the clearest distinction between him and Tyrus, and Tyrus looked at the crown with a deep and undeniable envy in his eyes.

"What business do YOU have here Juliusssss?" - Tyrus

"This is my castle, so anything happening inside here IS my business" - Julius

"So then why don't you tell me why our idiot sibling has brought strangers into here" - Tyrus

"I was going to but-" - Eric

"QUIET!" Tyrus and Julius yelled, scaring Eric and everyone else in the palace half to death. Even the flames from the torches all around them seemed to flinch at the sound of their collective outburst against Eric. Their voices permeated throughout the room with the quickness and verocity of a lightning strike.

Eric stood perfectly still, frozen in fear. Seconds felt like hours as Erik's older brothers both glared furiously at Erik for interrupting them.

"They are here on a research expedition" Julius said, referring to Elsa and the rest of the group that Eric had led into the palace. "Once they have found what they are looking for, they will leave and won't have to return."

"But we don't allow foreigners into the palace!" Tyrus protested

"Is that so?" Julius said, attempting to intimidate Tyrus. "Then where is the crown on YOUR head?" He asked

Tyrus, seething in anger at having Julius pull rank on him in front of an audience, stared down Julius before angrily storming through a set of doors into another room. Julius smirked at embarrassing Tyrus before turning back to a grateful Eric, where his smirk quickly vanished.

"Take them to the library and stay out of sight" Julius angrily muttered, before storming off into another room himself.

* * *

Eric, left standing in front of a stunned crowd consisting of Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Sam, Kristoff, and Sven, turned around and invited them all to follow him towards the palace library.

Nobody wanted to go though, too many questions were swirling in their heads for them to want to go anywhere without first getting some answers. Why were Eric's brothers so _mean_ to him? Was Tyrus the one who gave Eric the scar on his cheek? What kind of a family treats each other and their guests with so much hostility?

Eric, looking back at the group, could see they were all visibly disturbed by what just happened in front of them. He frowned, sighed, and then inhaled. "Look I know what you witnessed is probably a little... unnerving..." He started

"Eric your brothers are mean as hell to you!" Kristoff interrupted, cutting him off. "Why do they treat you like that?" He added

"And did one of your brothers give you that scar?" Anna asked

Eric raised up his hands to prevent others from barraging him with questions. "I know this looks bad. I know. I'll explain on the way to the library... Just, follow me. Please?" He asked.

Everyone glanced towards Elsa for her to make a decision. With a casual nod, she walked forward and led the group through the door towards the Library, where Eric shut the door behind them.

The hallway they found themselves in was short but tall, with the walls decorated with the number of Kings and Queens of Heilios from the past.

"There's so many of them!" Olaf noticed. "There must be like... Ten pictures on these walls!"

There were easily a hundred pictures on the wall though.

"Why do your brothers treat you so badly?" Anna asked Eric, genuinely worried about him. She and Elsa never really were close growing up, but they never actually tried to hurt each other.

"Yeah, well... It's cause... Because... It's not their fault... You see" He stuttered

"Of course its their fault! If my brothers were that mean to me I would have bitten off their fingers and then shoved it up their-"

"Im with Sam on this one" Kristoff interjected. "There's no good reason to treat family so poorly"

Eric stopped and turned to face the group. "The thing is though, there kind of is..." He responded

Elsa shook her head. "What? No... No there cant possibly be any reason to purposefully hurt your own brother or sister."

Eric gestured towards the wall of past leaders. "Do you notice anything peculiar about the list of rulers who ruled Heilios in the past? Look closely, and you'll find some clues."

Olaf had already pointed out how many of them there were, but the group started gazing at all the pictures. Each picture on the wall listed the name of the King and the time period they ruled Heilios.

"Hang on... Each of these people never ruled Heilios for longer than a year or two..." Kristoff said, spotting the first clue.

"I'm looking at the last names and some of these people aren't even related to each other!" Elsa observed "Almost every person on here has a different last name and looks nothing like the predecessor before them"

"That one looks like he had an allergic reaction to some nuts before having his portrait painted" Olaf said, pointing towards a very obese man who was very red in the face.

"Why are all these people so different and why does anyone only ever rule Heilios for a year or two?" Anna asked.

Eric nodded, as if Anna had asked the correct question he was waiting to be asked. "There is a tradition here in Heilios where... If a king or a ruler gets killed or assassinated... _Then whoever killed them takes their place as ruler of Heilios..."_

* * *

"What do you mean 'whoever killed them takes their place'?" Elsa asked incredulously after a stunned pause.

"Heilios was founded on a survival-of-the-fittest type philosophy long ago, so that only the strongest are allowed to rule. Therefore, if someone kills the ruler of Heilios, then they are the stronger person of the two, and inherits the crown himself..." Eric explained.

"Well that seems like a perfectly reasonable policy" Olaf muttered.

"That's INSANE!" Anna protested.

"How does that explain why your brothers are so mean to you though?" Kristoff asked, still confused.

"Well... My brothers are mean to me because they think that one day I will kill them and take the crown for myself, or conspire with one brother to have the other one killed..." Eric explained. "A good number of prior rulers of Heilios were killed by their own brothers so that they could become King, and my brothers think I will one day do the same to them..."

"Would you?" Sam asked, suddenly suspicious of Eric and everyone else in the palace.

"What, me?" Eric replied, almost thrown off by the question. "No. I could, no. Never. I couldn't kill someone..." He replied, holding one of his arms and looking at his feet. "Why would I even want to be King?" He added. "I would just end up getting killed by someone else if I did..."

"If you don't want to be King then why do your brothers still treat you so terribly?" Elsa asked, still stunned at what she was hearing.

"Well they don't believe that I don't want to be King for starters, and secondly they think I am conspiring against them" Eric responded.

"Conspiring how?" - Kristoff

"Well, Tyrus thinks that I'm conspiring with Julius to kill him since Julius sees him as a threat, and Julius thinks I'm conspiring with Tyrus to eventually have him killed so that then Tyrus could become King... The whole reason neither of them has had me killed yet is because both of them use me as a pawn for all of their schemes against each other." Eric explained.

"Umm, what happens if one of them kills the other and then it's just you and the survivor?" Sam asked

Eric stared back at her without saying anything at first, before he finally replied. "I don't like to think about it, but whatever it is, it won't be good..."

He may not have said it himself but everyone got the real message. If one of Eric's brothers was killed by the other brother, he would likely be seen as a threat, and then killed off as well.

"The library is over here at the end the hall" Eric chimed to break the silence that had set in. He turned back around and began to lead the party down the hall along the wall of leaders towards the palace library. As they walked down the rest of the hallway, Elsa looked at each picture she passed with the newfound knowledge that she wasn't just looking at pictures of prior rulers of Heilios...

_She was also looking at the pictures of_ _murderers_... People who had killed their own family or betrayed those closest to them when they were at their most vulnerable just so that they could become King... Only to then be killed themselves by someone else.

Elsa shuddered, and the ice in her veins began to once again slide into her fingertips as she suddenly felt in grave danger at being in the palace of Heilios. How many people had been slain in the very building they were in by people seeking power? Were any of them killed in the very hallway they were walking down at that very moment, or in the library where they will do their studying? Did Eric's brother Julius kill the prior King to become King himself? How long will Eric live after they leave Heilios?

Elsa's mind was going a mile a minute as Eric led her and the rest of the gang into the royal library, Eric opening the door for them and then closing it behind them once they entered.

Although she didn't know it, treachery was already afoot in the palace.


	14. Chapter 13

Tyrus, steaming from his showdown with Julius in front of the palace guests, angrily made his way about his room. It was dark, illuminated by a single withering candle, and looked much like the dungeons of the palace themselves, with the only difference being the Tyrus's room had a huge bed in it with personal items scattered everywhere. He was looking for the vial, _but where did he put it? It was INCREDIBLY hard to get that vial in the first place, where could it..._

_Bingo..._

Tyrus found the vial he was looking for, a vial that contained enough poison to kill a herd of elephants in merely minutes, and enough to kill a person in a fraction of the time. Poison was outlawed in Heilios since it was so often used by assailants to kill Royalty and become the new King, but Tyrus went to extraordinary lengths to get his hands on some. Not even he knew how many people died just so that he could get his hands on this, the true number must have been at least 30.

_"With this..."_ Tyrus thought to himself, _"I could kill off Julius AND Eric, blame Eric's death on the palace guests, and then have THEM killed PUBLICLY once I become King to demonstrate my authority!"_

Tyrus had long planned to kill Julius and Eric with the poison, but he had always put it off to see if another means to have his brothers killed presented itself. Poison was incredibly valuable, and you never know when you may need it in Heilios, so he waited. But now, with guests in the palace, the time had come, and Tyrus could not wait any longer. He had long gazed at the crown Julius wore on his head, becoming filled with envy from the moment Julius first put it on his head... Which happened just moments after Julius had killed his own father for it.

At least, that's what everyone BELIEVED happened. In reality, it was TYRUS who had killed their own father for the crown, but Julius took credit for it, and became King based on Tyrus's own work. Tyrus never forgave Julius for that, and vowed to one day regain the crown for himself. He just needed to figure out a way to kill both of his brothers at the same time, so that there wont be another instance of one of them taking credit for his work.

Tyrus sneered, as he pictured the crown lying on his own head with no one around to kill him for it. He hid the vial of poison up his sleeve, and made his way out the door towards the kitchen. He would poison the food and drinks that would be served to Julius and Eric, making sure to leave his meal untouched.

* * *

"Welcome to the Royal library!" Eric said, opening his arms towards the bookshelves full of books that lined the walls of the room. While the palace was small from the outside, it was carved DEEP into the mountain which held it in place, which was why the palace library appeared endless.

"Whoa" Anna gasped, marveling at the library. There must have easily been ten thousand books in the library, some of which were fantasy and fiction novels, but most of them being historical accounts of events and census data in Heilios.

"Where did you get the paper for all of these?" Kristoff wondered, remembering that there were no trees in Heilios or anywhere nearby in the outside world.

"Magic!" Olaf guessed

"I'm not entirely sure to be honest" Eric replied. "They use something instead of wood for the process of making paper but I never really knew what it was or how they did it."

"They?" Elsa asked

"Oh. There is a factory on the other side of Heilios that manufactures the paper for us. They don't make a ton of it, but they make just enough for the demands of the palace." - Eric

"So, where do we start, and how long is this going to take?" - Kristoff

"And when do we get to eat?" - Sam

"You're looking for your father who fled from Heilios, so we should probably just poke through census data for a name and see if we can find him. After that, we might even be able to find a declaration of birth and maybe some health info from a doctor that describes his appearance." Eric explained. He already knew from Julius why Elsa and her party had come. Julius was actually the one who allowed them to visit Heilios to conduct their search, but he delegated Eric to do all the actual work to help them instead of volunteering himself.

"That sounds like it will take forever!" Kristoff protested.

"Food?" Was all that Sam asked

"Relax... With all of us working different angles, we should be able to find what you're looking for in no time... Hopefully... And there will be food delivered to us here in the library so that we can keep searching." Eric explained, alleviating Sam's chief concern.

"Alright, sounds good..." Anna said. "So what do we do?"

Elsa took charge this time. "You and I knows Dad's age so we'll go try to find a certificate of his birth in the census info... Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf will poke around other info to see if you find something that we could use."

"What about me?" Sam asked.

"You help out Eric however you can" - Elsa

The gang split up and quickly began pouring through all the books that Heilios had to offer, looking for any evidence they could find establishing the identity of Anna and Elsa's father, and clearing the air over Anna's bloodline once and for all.

* * *

Tyrus snuck into the kitchen using some of the stealthiness that he was very well known for, and quickly found the food meant for him, Julius, and Eric. There was also food prepared for Elsa, Anna, the the rest of the palace visitors, but Tyrus knew that Julius and Eric were picky eaters. He would have to saturate their foods with the poison to make sure that they would consume it. Plus, he had to have both of them die at approximately the same time, because if one suddenly dropped to the ground and started dying, the other would know they were being poisoned, and then who knows how that would end...

Tyrus produced the vial from his sleeve and opened it, emptying half of the vial's contents onto Julius's food, and the other half into Eric's food. He didn't have enough left to poison the drinks for them, but the deed was done.

Now all he had to do, was wait.

* * *

Julius sat down at the table in the seat meant just for him, a seat that was very lavishly cushioned and resembled the actual throne itself. Tyrus was already seated at his seat, an elegantly carved wooden chair that although fancy, was far more demeaning to be seen in compared to where Julius sat. Rather then sulk at the dinner table like he had done time and time before though, Tyrus was doing his best to hide a sneer, anticipating Julius and Eric choking to death from the poison that saturated their food...

_Wait a minute... Where was Eric?_

"Where isssss Eric?" Tyrus hissed.

"When did you start caring about Eric?" Julius asked, as the plates of food were placed on the table by the palace servants.

"I don't care about him I only care about where he isssss" Tyrus snapped

"He is with the guests in the library doing Thor knows what... His food is being delivered to him and he will eat in there so that he doesn't have to disgust us with his presence."

Tyrus softened up a bit. If the food was being delivered to Eric, then he would still die from the poison before what even happened to Julius, so his plan could proceed without any problem.

"Very well, let ussss eat!" Tyrus grinned, digging into his meal as he anticipated Julius eating his own meal.

While Tyrus preferred tearing the flesh off of bone with his hands and teeth the same way a jackal would eat the carcass of a dead animal, Julius, the pompous loon, very delicately cut his food into tiny bits before eating it, almost even playing with it before consuming it. He was often the last one to finish his meal, with Tyrus being the first to finish, and Eric usually not even being allowed to eat with them and instead being quarantined to his own room.

Tyrus dug into his food as he watched Julius raise the first bite of his meal into his mouth before carefully chewing on it. Tyrus let a large grin sweep over his face, now it was only a matter of time before Julius would be writhing around on the floor, dying.

"You seem to be happy for some reason, what is the occasion?" Julius asked, noticing Tyrus's grin.

"Oh nothing... I just, LOVE the feeling you get of when a great burden is lifted off your shoulders..." Tyrus replied, trying to remain vague.

"I see, and what great burden has been lifted off of recently?" Julius pondered

"Oh, nothing important... I was just, anxious really, about something that had been bothering me for some time."

"Anxious you say?... I see... Would you by any chance be referring to how anxious you were about the poison you put in my food?" Julius guessed, before eating another piece off of his plate.

Julius's words hung in the air, as a stunned Tyrus glared at Julius with his mouth agape. _How on earth did he know?_

"What do you... How did you... What-" Tyrus stammered.

"Do you really think I would be stupid enough to let you live around here knowing that you would eventually try to kill me?" Julius asked, almost bemused by the stunned look on Tyrus's face. "I found out about that poison you had found long ago, and I knew it was only a matter of time before you tried to use it on me. So I swapped the vial with another vial containing some colored water that looked very similar to the poison... I'm assuming you were too eager to poison me that you forgot to actually check that there was actually poison in the vial, correct?"

Tyrus, growing enraged, leapt up from his chair and confronted Julius about his foiled plans.

"Did you go into my room and steal MY poison?" Tyrus asked, quickly escalating from anger into rage. A nervous sweat soon kicked in as Tyrus realized his brother had somehow learned about his plans, and duped him yet again.

"I didn't steal your poison, I merely borrowed it. I already gave it back to you." Julius replied, maintaining his composure and eating another bite off his plate.

"What?" Tyrus asked, incredulous. "When did you return it to me? Where is it?" He demanded to know.

"Don't you know?... I put it in your food." - Julius

Tyrus snapped his gaze back towards his own plate, noting the chicken, jerky, and celery that all had been half-eaten. His rage faded back into a stunned silence before being replaced with a feeling of dread and hopelessness... He could already feel some of the symptoms kicking in. The nervous sweat he had felt earlier was actually the first symptom from the poison, but in his anger at Julius, he had no even noticed it. His head soon began spinning the same way it would if you stood up from a couch or got off of a bed after a long period of time, he began losing feeling in the tips of his tows and his fingers, and he suddenly began to feel dehydrated.

"You worthless pile of SCUM!" Tyrus yelled, as he leapt towards Julius. His legs gave out from under him though, and soon Tyrus had lost all feeling to his feet and ankles, along with everything in his arms below his elbows. He could not even grip his hands into a fist to at least try to break Julius's jaw. The head spinning worsened, to the point that Tyrus couldn't even tell up from down, and he felt a great pain in his chest that felt like an elephant standing on him slowly crushing him to death, forcing the air out of his lungs and suffocating him.

Julius, after folding his napkin neatly onto the table, got up and stood over a writhing Tyrus at his feet, who was now starting to foam at the mouth.

"I must say Tyrus, I really will miss these games we played of trying to kill one another. You were always a worthy foe, for what it's worth." Julius said, giving Tyrus one last compliment at his moment of death.

Tyrus tried to respond by cursing at Julius with his last breath, but he was struggling so hard for air that he couldn't get the words out of him. After several more increasingly violent convulsions, Tyrus stopped moving. His gaze fixated on the symbol that Julius always had worn on his shoes, ever since he had become King.

The symbol resembled the crown of Heilios that Julius wore on his head, the crown that Tyrus had desired all his life.

Julius, pitying his brother, bent down and closed Tyrus's eyes to make him look like he was now taking a nap. He stood back up and gazed at Tyrus's limp body only thinking of one thing to say regarding the whole situation.

"One down..." He said to himself out loud, "...One to go..."

* * *

"Hay" Olaf casually said to Kristoff, trying to start a conversation. Kristoff ignored him.

Olaf tried again a little louder. "Haaaaaaay" It still didn't work. Growing frustrated, he went for broke.

"HAAAAAAAY!" Olaf bellowed, causing Kristoff to almost lose his hearing in one ear, freaking out Sven, and causing a mirror hanging on a wall nearby to start cracking.

"WHAT!? WHAT? WHAT IS IT!?" - Kristoff

"You seem annoyed..." - Olaf

"You just screamed right into my ear!" - Kristoff

"No I mean BEFORE that. Ever since we got on that boat and came here, you seem to be very agitated with me..." - Olaf. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No... Yes, you can be... No, that's not what was... Nevermind, I got work to do" - Kristoff

"Come oooooon, what is it?" Olaf pestered.

Realizing Olaf was not going to give up, Kristoff relented.

"I wanted my proposal to Anna to be over the top and memorable and, something that I would do... But she saw YOUR poem and thought that it was from me." - Kristoff

"And how does that make you feel?" - Olaf

"Cheated, to be honest..." Kristoff replied. "She fell in love with what you did, what you wrote, not what I did... I didn't even get the chance to ask her to marry me."

Kristoff wore an unmistakable look of sadness as he turned his head back to the books on the shelf he was examining, with Olaf watching him with his own look of sorrow and regret. "Kristoff I'm sorry..." He bagan. "I never meant to steal something that important from you... I was only trying to help you..."

Kristoff sighed. "It's fine. Anna is still marrying me at the end of this, that's the important part..." He figured.

"That's true, and better yet, I'll make it up to ya" - Olaf

"How are you going to make it up to me?" Kristoff asked, genuinely curious about what Olaf had to offer.

"I promise that the NEXT time you propose to a girl, I will NOT intervene in it" Olaf promised.

Kristoff laughed. "Olaf, you only propose to a girl ONCE, and I'm not proposing to anyone else because I'm going to be married to Anna forever... Okay?"

Olaf looked at Kristoff, and Kristoff could see some signs in Olaf's gaze that Olaf didn't actually think that Kristoff and Anna would stay together forever.

"You do know that right?" Kristoff asked, pressuring Olaf to give the correct response.

"Yeah... Yes... Completely... Totally. No doubt in my mind. Never questioned it. Absolutely... Ummm..." - Olaf

The doors to the entrance of the library burst open, with Julius and several guards entering the room.

"NOBODY MOVE!" Julius bellowed

"Oh thank goodness you're here, I was running out of words and phrases to say" Olaf chirped, oblivious to the hostile tone of Julius's words.

"What? Why? What's going on?" Kristoff asked, knowing something was wrong immediately.

"Arrest them! Arrest them all!" - Julius

Some guards quickly tackled Kristoff to the ground and pinned him, while others threw a net around Sven and brought him down to the ground as well. Olaf ended up getting thrown into a bag and having it tied shut. on top of him.

Anna and Elsa meanwhile, having heard the commotion, stepped out from behind the bookshelves to see what was going on only to immediately have their arms and wrists grabbed by several guards.

"Hey let go! Hey!" Anna yelled, struggling greatly against the guards. She managed to wiggle her way free from one of the guards and was prepared to bash him with the heavy book she was wielding, but several other guards restrained her and tied her up. Elsa, right behind Anna, was caught off guard by the ambush and didn't even have time to react to the guards before having her hands tied behind her back as well.

"Tell the Ice Queen to not use her powers otherwise her friends shall all be killed!" Julius ordered his troops, not knowing that Elsa was already nearby and within earshot to hear his words for herself.

The guards hauled the group all into one spot and threw them onto the ground, while Julius stood in front of them.

"Hey guys, check out what I found!" Eric called out, making his way towards the front of the library completely oblivious to what was going on. He turned around the corner of a bookshelf only to be tackled by several guards waiting for him.

"Oh goodie, my only other brother is here to join us" Julius remarked.

"Other?" Eric asked, after giving up struggling against the guards who were restraining him.

"Yes Eric. I'm afraid that, our beloved middle sibling Tyrus is, no longer with us" Julius remarked.

"What?" Eric asked, fearing the worst. "What did you do?"

"It's not what I did Eric, It's what YOU did..." Julius remarked with a smirk.

"What?... What are you talking about." Eric asked.

"OH... OH I KNOW THIS!" Olaf interrupted, gaining everyone's attention. "Based on the books I've read today, THIS is the part where the bad guy, that would be you Julius, explains to everyone what his nefarious plan was!"

Julius, shocked that a talking snowman with half a brain interrupted his big speech, seemed to be fidgeting at having his moment so rudely interrupted.

"Y-Yes" He said after a while. "Allow me to explain."

"Oh this is going to be good, I just know it! I bet its REALLY evil!" Olaf remarked, still tied up in a bag not being able to see anything.

* * *

"You see Eric, when you first came to me informing me that guests from Arendelle were sailing here for research into their family history, I was tempted to seal the doors and not allow them inside since no outsiders are allowed inside Heilios, even if they are royalty..." Julius started. "But after hearing you explain that their father allegedly came from Heilios, my curiosity was aroused, since almost nobody has ever left Heilios and lived to tell about it... ALMOST, nobody."

He paused, then continued, walking around the group as he did so. "I poured through some of the records myself looking for instances of people who fled from Heilios in the past 100 years, and much to my surprise, I actually succeeded in finding some evidence in the piles of books here within the library of such a thing happening"

"Wait, what? You researched what we were looking for yourself and found it?" Elsa asked.

"Indeed. You see, your father actually DID come from the city of Heilios, and actually DID look physically different than what he turned out to be." Julius answered. "And upon discovering this, I was tempted to simply mail this information to you so that you wouldn't have to come all this way to Heilios yourselves and disrupt my palace."

"So then why didn't you just mail us the evidence?" Anna asked

"Because upon further research, I actually found out something ELSE about your father, something, far more interesting and intriguing..." Julius said, before pulling out a book from inside his coat and tossing it to the ground in front of Anna and Elsa. "This book is the journal of my father he kept in this library, the journal I inherited after I had killed him. In the journal, once I decided to start reading it, I found that its pages were full of my father talking about his two brothers." Julius explained. "In the book, my father talked about how he killed off his two brothers to receive the crown himself, but then towards the end, I found something EXTREMELY interesting..."

He paused, looking at Anna and Elsa just for dramatic effect, before continuing pacing around them.

"It turns out that my father actually had a THIRD brother, a brother he had never spoken about before either in the journal or to me and my brothers, and did not have just two brothers that I was led to believe my father had. In his journal, my father talks about how his brother somehow vanished from Heilios one day without any trace ever being found, and he feared that this brother could one day possibly reappear and slay him when he least suspects it, and reclaim the throne in the process... This third brother who had vanished was figured to be dead... But because his body was never found, and because only someone of the royal family could be able to leave Heilios with enough supplies to survive on the outside... I finally put two and two together..."

He turned back to Anna and Elsa.

"My father's brother, my uncle... Was YOUR father... The man who fled from Heilios and vanished without a trace, the man my father feared would return to kill him, before I ultimately killed him."

He got down very low, almost right into the face of Elsa before she backed away.

"That would make us cousins, wouldn't it?" Julius sneered.

Elsa's heart sank into her stomach, and Anna's did the same. They both exchanged nervous glances with each other as Julius's words sank in. What were the implications of their father being related to the same flesh and blood that later produced Eric and his brothers?

Julius answered that question for them.

"Now here is where things REALLY get interesting..." He cleared his throat." Because my uncle, your father, left Heilios when he was a part of the royal family and became King himself in Arendelle... That means that Arendelle is ruled by the same descendants of the Brodermord bloodline that rules Heilios to this day, which means that according to the bloodline that you and I share...

... _Arendelle belongs to me"_ Julius finished.

"Does not!" Anna responded, wasting almost no time in rebuking Julius's claim. The quickness of Anna's retort caught both Julius and Elsa off guard, and Anna used the stunned silence of both of them to continue. "If our father fled from Heilios to Arendelle then ELSA AND I are the ones who rule it, since WE are more closely related to our father then you are!" She explained.

Julius smirked, grinning as neither of them were aware of his what he was planning to do next.

"Well of course you two are more closely related to your father then I am... _That's why I plan on killing you two next_"

Anna's anger and resistance to Julius's claim faded at hearing those words, while Elsa's heart sank further into her stomach as she understood what Julius was planning.

"Once you two are out of the way, _I_ will be the most closely-related relative to your father. That would then make ME the next heir to the throne of Arendelle, and anyone who would challenge me would meet the same fate as you two." He finished.

Julius stood up and paced around the group as they all fully absorbed what was going on.

"That's why you let them come here, isn't it?" Eric asked, breaking his silence he had held since Julius first outlined his plans. Everyone turned their attention to Eric.

Julius chuckled. "Well duh! I couldn't simply send them a message telling them what I had found out about their father and let them know what my intentions were. If I did then I wouldn't be able to kill them because my reach is limited to the walls of Mt. Khan that Heilios is carved into. In order to kill them, I had to lure them here to Heilios in order to do that." He explained.

"But you can't kill them" Eric said, trying to poke holes in Julius's plans to try to get him to spare the two. "What makes you think that Arendelle will just allow you to declare yourself king and kill off Elsa and Anna?"

"Umm, because I actually have proof that I'm next in line for the throne?" Julius remarked, bending down to pick up the journal from his father. He held it up in his hand. "All the proof I need is right here." He explained. "Once they see that I am indeed related to their father, after of course I inform them of the terrible accident that happened at sea where Elsa and Anna were swept overboard and drowned, there will be no one else to dispute that I would be next in line for the throne..."

The guards hoisted up Eric to his feet as he continued his protest. "And how do you propose on getting to Arendelle exactly? We don't have any ships here"

"I don't, but they do" Julius motioned towards Elsa and the group. "They sailed here on their own ship fit for a king, I'll use that to get to Arendelle and claim the throne. That was also one of the reasons why they needed to be lured here actually, so that then I could use their ship to go back to Arendelle and claim the throne for myself."

"And the troops on the ship?" Eric asked, grasping for any kind of potential problem. "They won't just let you take over their ship after you kill their Queens!"

"I have my own troops in case you haven't noticed..." Julius explained. "Assuming that the Arendelle troops are only minimally armed, the sheer number of guards I have in Heilios will be sufficient enough to overrun them, force them to serve me, and then once we get to Arendelle, have them killed off so that no one will be left alive to dispute the claim that the Queens were lost at sea..."

Eric looked at the ground as he tried to think of something else, anything else, he could think of to try to get Julius to leave Elsa and Anna alive for at least a little longer. But it turns out, Julius had already planned to do that as well.

"Guards!" Julius ordered. "Take this group down to the dungeons" He gestured towards everyone but Elsa. "But take HER to the isolation cell" He clarified, pointing at Elsa. "If she so much as moves or attempts to break out, give the order to kill all of her friends... I need to keep them alive just long enough to make sure I have thought about all the information I will need to continue with my plans and haven't overlooked something."

Julius was a meticulous planner, which was how he managed to claim the throne of Heilios in the first place. Until Julius was absolutely sure he had everything he would need to continue with his plans to take Arendelle for himself, he would keep Elsa, Anna, and everyone else alive.

"Sir!" One of the guards asked, as many of the guards prepared to lead Elsa and her gang out of the library and towards the dungeons. "What shall we do with Prince Eric?"

Julius turned back and smirked. He reached out his hand out the door, motioning for a guard to hand him something.

"Ah yes... Prince Eric..." Julius said, as he gazed towards his brother. Eric stood on his feet with both of his arms restrained by guards on either side of him. "My brother, though you have been of great use to me in the past..."

Julius paused, and he swung his arm back through the door, revealing that a guard outside the doorway had actually handed him a loaded crossbow.

He pointed it right at Eric.

"I'm afraid that your services are no longer required." He finished.

Julius pulled the trigger and fired the crossbow, an arrow hitting Eric right in the chest where his heart was.

Eric fell backwards onto the ground as Elsa and Anna both cried out to him. They were all then dragged out of the room towards the dungeons, both sisters crying as they begged the guards to stop, while Eric lied on the ground, not moving at all.


	15. Chapter 14

Julius paced around his room, which he called his 'war-room', as he carefully looked over the current situation in his head while planning his next move. The ice queen was by some miracle successfully moved to her own cell in isolation, and she was told that if she tried to escape, then all the other prisoners including her sister would be immediately killed. Julius figured that that should prevent her from trying to escape, neutralizing the most powerful one in the group... All the others meanwhile were put into one cell with 6 guards all keeping a close eye on them, ensuring that they wouldn't be going anywhere either. Eric's body had been moved into a storage room, but only for a little bit. The body would be disposed of later, but Julius didn't want to spare any guards in disposing of the body, he needed all hands on deck to make sure that Elsa and her party wouldn't try anything to interrupt his plans of seizing Arendelle.

But despite all of his success up to this point, Julius was now facing two very pressing problems that could very well derail all of the progress he had made so far.

"My liege, you requested me?" A guard asked, walking in to Julius's war room. He was the only guard Julius allowed to carry a knife or even enter his room, he was that trusted by Julius. The guard was also much smarter than any of the other guards Julius had to deal with, this particular guards' cunning had helped him get through several sticky situations, and had proven himself invaluable to Julius in times of trouble.

"Come in, we have some problems that must be dealt with" Julius said, not raising his head and instead staring at maps of the sea scattered all around his bed and a nearby table.

The guard walked right up next to Julius to offer his assistance. "Anything my liege"

Julius sighed, and pointed out the first problem he was facing. "Arendelle lies a hundred miles to the South, with coastlines jagging in and out from the mainland all along the way..."

The guard nodded. "It looks like only some experienced sailors would be able to navigate these waters..."

"That's my first problem I have" Julius stated. "We've never had a navy... So none of the guards or soldiers at my command have ANY experience in sailing large vessels like the one Queen Elsa arrived on, and I'm fairly certain none of the citizens of Heilios will be of much use either..." He explained. "If I am going to kill the sisters and go to Arendelle to claim the throne, I will need to somehow keep the crew who brought them here alive, and also convince them to submit to me and take me to Arendelle to be its new King. If I don't then I wont be going anywhere..."

"I see, sir" The guard replied, unable to think of any possible solutions himself. "What can we do though?"

Julius dismissed the guards question, and instead went straight to the other issue. "The second far more pressing problem though is this accounting error here."

Julius then pulled out a note from his pocket and handed it to the guard. It was a note in Eric's handwriting, a note he had written before Elsa and the gang even arrived, and it detailed how Elsa and her party were coming to Heilios for research about their bloodline.

"I... I don't understand sir..." The guard replied, puzzled.

Julius took a deep breath and exhaled. "Eric's report indicated that Queen Elsa would be bringing five others into Heilios to help her with her research, for a total of 6 people..."

"Yessir, that is correct." The guard replied, after quickly glancing over the note

"Then why did we only find _five_ of them?" Julius asked

The guard was caught off-guard by the question, no pun intended. "What? It... We arrested every person in the library when we stormed it, a-and then searched the entire place, we couldn't possibly have missed someone!"

Julius shook his head, listing the names of everyone in Elsa's party and raising fingers every time he read off a name. "Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, the snowman... And the reindeer..." He held up five fingers. "Eric's report said there were SIX. So who did you miss?"

* * *

*Mission Impossible music plays as Sam peers around a corner, looking out for guards*

Sam was with Eric at the time the library was raided, and when Eric momentarily left to show Elsa what he had found, Sam scrambled high up the shelves out of sight to stay hidden from the guards,thus eluding capture. Sam was now the only one not imprisoned in Heilios, and she proceeded on sneaking around the castle looking for the dungeons they were being held in, taking out several guards along the way.

The first guard never saw Sam coming. Sam saw him though, leapt at his feet with all her might, and sent the guard crashing headfirst into a brick wall, knocking him out along with several of his teeth.

Another guard who stood still at the entrance to a door was taken out when Sam climbed up onto a shelf and knocked over an incredibly heavy statue head onto the guard, knocking him out along with several of his teeth as well.

A third guard meanwhile was asleep in a chair, and Sam decided to have fun with him by putting his hand in a nearby bowl of water. The guard peed himself, and he went off to clean his pants before anyone noticed he had peed himself, keeping him busy for at least an hour.

Sam continued to craftily take out or sneak past guard after guard, making her way through the castle until she could find the dungeons they were holding her friends in.

* * *

Elsa was in her own cell, a very long but narrow room much like a corridor with a dead end at the end. She was chained by both of her wrists behind her back and into a corner, while a guard watched her at all times through the door at the other end of the cell. She could have easily froze the chains and break out of them, but Julius told her if she tried to escape, that the guards would kill Anna and everyone else, and Elsa simply couldn't risk doing that.

She could stand up, but she couldn't walk around anywhere, due to being so tightly chained to one corner of the room. She could sit and lie down, but not do so comfortably since her hands were chained up behind her. As worried as Elsa was for the safety of Anna and everyone else, she was equally upset with herself at not being able to take control of the situation and fight their way out from Heilios. She was so upset at seeing Eric die that she couldn't think straight, and being separated from Anna when she was dragged to her own cell only further unnerved her to the point where she couldn't think straight and pull herself together.

Now, she could only sit down in her cell in anguish, looking over all the trouble she had gotten herself and her sister into... Again.

(It's been a while since there was a song in this story, and Elsa hasn't had her big one yet, so here you go... Style is similar to the music of Mulan's 'Who I am inside')

(Very soft and quiet piano intro, sounding like a sad lullaby...)

"I nev-er thought, it would end, this, way...  
So much pain in just, one, day...  
Chained up here in, my, own, cell...  
I knew I, should, have, stayed a-way...

I nev-er thought, it would end, this, way...  
The ones, I, love, are the ones, who, pay...  
Trapped, in, here, so, far, from, home...  
I knew we, should, have, stayed a-way...

I nev-er thought, it would end, this, way...  
If I, could, hear, my, father say...  
That in, the, end, it will be, o-kay...  
If only, we, had, stayed a-waaaaay...

(Elsa stands up and begins singing louder, but not loud enough that the guard outside can make out what she is saying

As, I, stand, here, in, these, chains...  
Just, try-ing, to, halt, the, pain...  
I pray, my, sis-ter is o-kay...  
I knew, I, should, have, stayed a-way...

Am, I, some, sort, of, family curse?  
I on-ly, make, things, so, much, worse...  
I dont, even, know, if its night, or, day...  
I hope, that, An-na is o-kay...

(Cuts to Anna in her cell. Yep, turns out this song is actually one of those duets sung by people at the exact same time without them knowing it.)

(Everyone else has fallen asleep in the cell, Anna sings quietly to herself)

Am I, some, sort, of, family curse?  
I on-ly, make, things, so, much, worse...  
I hope, that, El-sa is o-kay...  
I never, wanted things, to be, this, way...

All, of, this, because of, my, blood-line...  
It's like, I've, committed, some, sort, of, crime...  
I just, want-ed my, wed-ding day...  
I hope, that El-sa is, okaaaaaay...

(Anna and Elsa start singing together, from their individual cells, the exact same lines, blaming themselves for their situation and hoping that the other is okay)

I al-ways start, some, sort, of mess...  
Ev-en though, I, try, my, best...  
Heaven get us through this day...  
I hope, my, sis-ter, is o-kay...

I on-ly, ev-er, cause, more, problems...  
But she's al-ways there, to help, me, solve 'em...  
Why, do I put, her, in, harm's, way?...  
Please, let my sis-ter, be, o-kay...

(Finale)

"I nev-er thought, it would end, this, way...  
Trapped, in, here, just, like, a, fish...  
But if, I, some-how get, one, wish...  
I wish my, sis-ter... Will be... Oooooh... kaaaaaaaay"

* * *

Sam had finished giving a guard the fat end of a shovel to his face when she whipped her head around the corner and spotted Anna in her cell. Everyone else in her cell appeared to be sleeping, but the 6 guards between Sam and the cell were at full attention. Sam would have to take out all the guards one by one in order to free them, but she had never taken on multiple human enemies at once.

She faced a difficult battle, but after taking a deep breath, she dashed into the room.

* * *

"Hey look at that!" One guard said, getting the attention of all the other guards who looked at where he was pointing.

Of all things, a _squirrel_ had for some reason walked right into the dungeon. Many of the guards had never even SEEN a squirrel before, let alone know how one could have possibly made its way this far into the castle.

Guard 2 - "How did that thing get in here?"

Guard 3 - "What a nutty situation!"

Guard 1 - "Bill if you make another stupid joke like that I'm going to throw you into the volcano myself."

Guard 4 - "Yeah shut up Bill"

Guard 2 - "What do we do with it?"

Guard 3 - "Lets keep it!"

Guard 6 - "Something tells me that Julius wouldn't be happy if he found out we were keeping a pet..."

Guard 5 - "Hey look! I think she likes me! Its crawling up my leg"

Guard 1 - "Do you have food in your pocket or something, maybe she smells it"

Guard 4 - "How can you tell its a girl squirrel?"

Guard 3 - "Because girl squirrels love nuts!"

Guard 2 - "Bill seriously, I will punch you in the throat..."

Guard 5 - "Guys look, she's sitting on my shoulder like some sort of bird!"

Guard 6 - "Hey I have to go to the bathroom real quick and drop a huge-"

Guard 3 - "AAAAAHHHHHH!"

* * *

Sam, looking harmless and acting like a normal squirrel, had leapt from the shoulder she was perched on and plunger her right fist right into the eye of a guard opposite her, causing him to howl in pain and fall to the ground.

Before he crumbled to the ground though, Sam had already leapt at her next target. The dungeon room was small enough that Sam could dart from one guard to another and attack them before they could spread out and try to surround her.

After another devastating hit to the guards eye, Sam slid down inside his shirt and bit every sensitive patch of skin she could find in a split-second. The other guards were still stunned by the sudden ambush to prevent Sam's next attack, where Sam hopped out onto the floor, leapt at a third guard, and bit down on his ear as hard as humanly, I mean, as squirrel-el-ly, possible...

The huge commotion had woken up Kristoff and Sven, while Anna was already awake, and while Olaf still had no idea anything was even going on. They were all now trying to get into the fight to help out Sam.

The guard had whirled around several times trying to get Sam off of his ear, but couldn't do so before Sam slid down the back of his shirt and began biting him harder than ten thousand aggravated mosquitos. The guard writhed around on his feet as if he was being eaten alive by a thousand ants, before Sam burst out of the front of the guards shirt like an alien onto the face of a guard.

One guard tried to hit Sam, but Kristoff had grabbed the guard's clenched fist by reaching through the bars of the cell, and used his other arm to knock out the guard with a punch right to his jaw. Anna meanwhile had nabbed the keys to the cell off of a fallen guard and was now fidgeting with the lock to free themselves.

One guard was knocked out courtesy of Kristoff, two others were in crippling pain while lying on the floor, and a fourth was now being blitzkrieged by Sam. The two other guards though snapped out of their shock and went on the offensive, one going to help fight against Sam, and the other tried to wrestle the keys out of Anna's hands.

Anna was down to the last key on the key ring before a guard grasped them and tried to yank them away. Anna clung on though, and proceeded on fighting a very one sided battle of tug-of war. Using every ounce of strength in her body, Anna had yanked the keys back from the guard so hard, that she actually pulled the guard face-first right into the bars of the prison cell, knocking him out and causing the guard to lose a few teeth in the process.

Sam meanwhile switched to defense and began darting all around the floor to avoid being grabbed by the two remaining guards, neither of whom noticing that Anna unlocked the door and freed them all.

Kristoff hopped onto one of the guards Sam had first attacked, pinning him to the ground, while Sven charged out of the cell like a cannonball and plastered the two guards chasing Sam up against the wall.

The battle had ended just as suddenly as it had begun. One guard pinned under Kristoff, two knocked out by Kristoff and Anna, 2 more eliminated when Sven smashed them against the wall, and one was still on the floor crying for his mother as he wriggled around in pain.

"Alright, what do we do now?" Anna asked.

"Lets find Elsa and get out of here!" - Kristoff

"Where is she? I don't know where she could be" - Anna

The guard Kristoff was sitting on began to sputter.

"D-d-down the hall on the-e left... G-guard has th-the left"

"Aww thank you so much!" Anna said, before she and Sam darted out the door to find Elsa.

Kristoff turned to the guard underneath him. "Why did you give away that information so quickly?"

"I hate working here man, *coughs*, I'm only doing this job for the dental insurance..."

* * *

Elsa sat down in the corner of her cell, frozen in a state of fear over whether her sister was still okay, and worrying about how on earth they could get out of this alive. She had all but surrendered hope when a sudden bang at the other end of the door rang through the dungeon she was locked in.

It sounded like a fight was going on outside the door!

Elsa got up and strained to listen to the noises outside the door. There was definitely a struggle going on, lots of thuds and punches being thrown, but she couldn't hear who the guards were fighting.

Her intuition kicked in. If she was going to get once chance to escape, THIS would be it. Elsa clenched her hands around the chains holding her in the corner, and began freezing them solid. She had done this once before when Hans had her locked up, so she knew she could do it again.

Ice quickly engulfed the chains as Elsa struggled to yank herself free. The fight outside the door was still going on, but Elsa knew it wouldn't last forever. Her window of escape was growing smaller very quickly, and she used that fear to fuel her struggle.

The ice began to crack as Elsa pulled with all her might while the fight outside raged on. The sounds of ice splitting the chains intensified, but the chains still held on. They were fighting to restrain Elsa just as much as she was fighting to free herself.

After several desperate heaves, one of the chains finally gave away, and the other one soon gave out as well. It was one of the links that had broken, not the handcuffs clamping onto her wrists. Elsa would still need the keys to get free from those, so she quickly made her way towards the exit.

The fight was still going on outside, and sounded more fierce than ever. She hid in one of the corners of the cell and peered out the door so that she could see what was going on outside, but they wouldn't see her if they looked back inside.

She peered through the window and saw much to her surprise that it wasn't Anna or Kristoff fighting the guards, the guards were fighting each other! There were three of them, each trying to beat the hell out of each other for whatever reason, affording Elsa the chance to free herself and prepare to burst out.

Elsa moved to right in front of the door and got into position. If she could blast ice through the door at the right moment. She could bust herself out of her cell AND take out a guard or two in the process, ideally all three, and then go save Anna and everyone else.

She set her feet, and then flung both of her hands forward in one quick burst. Ice shot out of her fingertips and blew the door to smithereens, the same way a cannonball would have had it been launched at the door from point-blank range. Shards of wood flew all over the place and Elsa herself had to cover her face with her arms to avoid getting hit by any of them.

The dust settled, and wasting no time at all, Elsa stepped outside, arms at the ready to blast any poor guard left standing up against the wall before he could raise the alarm. Her first priority was to find Anna and everyone else, but she still had to do it discretely. King Julius's order to have everyone else killed if Elsa tried to escape was still in place.

Or so she thought...

Two guards were knocked unconscious, but a third was grunting as he made his way back onto his feet. Elsa was in full war mode though, and she wasted no time in blasting the guard up against the wall with an ice blast. The guard was thrown up against the wall so hard that the force of his body hitting the wall made it begin to crack, and his helmet he was wearing even flew off his head.

Elsa loaded up to freeze the guard to the wall, but she hesitated as she stared at the guard.

_It was Eric!_

* * *

"OWWWWW" Eric groaned as he began to get back onto his feet.

"ERIC?!" Elsa asked, dumbfounded. "WHAT ARE... HOW DID... WHAT?" Was all she could get out of her mouth.

"You know its not really customary to blast the guy trying to save you with ice powers..." Eric replied, grinning at seeing Elsa stupefied at his very presence.

"Oh! Sorry, I'm sorry! Are you alright? How did-" Elsa stammered, snapping back into reality as she helped Eric to his feet. "I thought you were dead!"

"Pffft" Eric snorted. "Do you think this is the first time my older brothers have tried shooting me with a crossbow?... One time, on my 16th birthday..."

He was cut off. Before he could even get into his story, Elsa had wrapped both arms around him and hugged him as hard as she could. She was so glad to see that Eric was alive, somehow, and that he had actually tried to come help her. Poor Eric on the other hand had no idea how to handle the situation. He had never been hugged before. He had never known his mother, his father was very uncaring of him and his brothers, and his brothers sure as hell never bothered to hug Eric, so this was something he never experienced before. He moved his hands around debating if he should hug Elsa back or just not move at all and relish the moment.

Elsa broke off after 10 seconds. "How are you still even alive?" She asked

Eric snapped out of his awkward freeze and whipped out a book from inside his jacket. "That thing I wanted to show you and your sister? Back in the library? I hid the book inside my coat when Julius bursted in, and when he shot me with the crossbow, the arrow actually hit the book and it took the brunt of the damage.

Sure enough, the book that Eric wanted to show Elsa and Anna earlier had a large gaping hole towards the top left edge, a hole clearly made by an arrowhead. Had the arrow landed half an inch further to the left, it would have missed the book, and killed Eric on the spot. Instead, the arrow hit the book instead, and Eric was left alive.

Eric went on to explain that by simply playing dead and not moving, the guards of the castle simply dragged his body into a storage room and left him there until new orders would be given. Eric then found a guard uniform in the storage room, slipped it on, and proceeded on making his way towards the dungeon where he figured Elsa was being held.

"That actually was really smart of you to do" Elsa said, smiling.

"Thanks!" Eric replied, smiling back.

Eric and Elsa just stood there, awkwardly smiling at each other and just being thankful to see each other again. at least ten full seconds must have passed before they both simultaneously snapped out of their trance.

"We should","Oh um","The guards","Yeah that's right","Still in trouble","Anna","Right" Elsa and Eric stammered over each other. The two then quickly made their way down the hallway to go find the rest of the gang.


	16. Chapter 15

Special shoutout to everyone whose been keeping up with this despite my very lengthy breaks in-between posting chapters, and special shoutout to writers who actually manage to keep to a weekly schedule of updating their stories. I have no idea how you guys do it at ALL

* * *

Anna brushed some dust off of her pants as Kristoff moved the last of the guards into the prison cell before locking them inside.

"Okay, what's the plan?" He asked

"I dunno, these guys don't have any board games in here or ANYTHING" Olaf said, disappointed.

"Here's what we do. We find my sister, we find the book proving my bloodline, we AVOID JULIUS AT ALL COSTS... And then we get out of here..." Anna said, taking charge.

"Doesn't Julius have the book?" Sam asked.

"Oh... Right... Okay NEW plan. We find my sister, we find the book proving my bloodline, we FIND JULIUS AT ALL COSTS... And then we get out of here..." - Anna

"If we're going after Julius, we'll need weapons" - Kristoff

Olaf gasped in excitement. "DOES THAT MEAN I GET TO HAVE A BATTLE AXE!?"

"I didn't see the armory when I was making my way up here, it could be anywhere in here, and unless someone who knows exactly where to find it just magically walks in here..." - Sam

"Oh, hi guys!" Erik said, as he and Elsa stumbled around the corner and stumbled onto them.

"ELSA!" Anna cried out in glee, not even noticing that dead Erik was in fact not dead and instead enveloping Elsa in a bone crushing hug.

"Erik! You're alive!... Or did we not survive the battle and we are all dead?" Olaf pondered

"Erik?" - Kristoff. "How did.. When did... I thought I saw..."

"Why did your brother try to have us all killed?" Sam demanded, more suspicious of Erik then she was happy to see him suddenly alive.

"It's a long story, I'll explain later, but we should definitely try to get out of here..." - Erik

"Wait we can't leave yet" Anna interjected. "We still need to get the book from Julius that proves my bloodline.

"Yeah otherwise we would have come all this way just for a great and timeless adventure... How much would that suck?" - Olaf

"Actually we don't need that book" Erik said, pulling out the book that had saved him from Julius out from inside the guard's uniform he had stolen. "Remember that thing I wanted to show you all before we got ambushed?"

He cracked open the book and began flipping through pages, everyone creeping closer to see what he was getting at. Several of the pages had a giant hold in the corner where the arrow struck, but the one page Erik was looking for was much better off than the rest of them.

"Here! I found it." Erik said, pointing to a line in the book. "While everyone was amazed that a prince, your dad, managed to escape from Heilios and somehow survive, what was glossed over is how the guard who went with him also survived as well."

"Look we don't have time for a cool story, we need to find some weapons, get Julius, get the book and fight our way out of here!" Sam protested.

Erik kept on going. "The prince's name was wiped from the official logs as part of the king's orders, but the guards name was not, since he wasn't as high priority of a person to escape from Heilios."

"I'm sorry but I'm confused. How does that help us?" Elsa asked

"The guard's name was Tyrion Bjorgman, and he also happened to be a Knight of the Palace Guard, the second highest rating captain in Heilios at the time..." Erik explained. "Bjorgman, the guard that helped your dad escape from Heilios is actually Kristoff's father!"

All eyes shifted from Erik to Kristoff, who was in disbelief. He looked at the book Erik had found and read the account with his own eyes.

"Holy crap..." Kristoff finally whispered in amazement. He then pointed to the page. "You guys see how when they spell 'Bjorgman' they put a dash through the 'o' like that?... That's how I always do it when I have to write down my last name for something!"

"Exactly!" - Erik

"Did you say that Kristoff's dad was a Knight of the Palace Guard?" - Sam

"I did! And because Kristoff's father was a Knight, that makes him the son of a knight! We don't need the book Julius has to prove Anna's bloodline, because we now have our own proof that Kristoff is royalty!" Erik exclaimed.

"Holy CRAP!" Anna yipped with glee. "If Kristoff is royalty then nobody is going to care if I'm not royalty! Even though I am!"

"That's amazing!" Elsa grinned

"Yeah it is! Now lets get the heck out of here!" - Erik.

Everyone shifted into high gear and quickly followed Erik as he led them out of the castle. Since they had no reason to go to the armory, the group opted to instead make their way out of the castle as quickly as possible before Julius could figure out what all was going on, so they all feverishly made their way towards the exit of the Palace. On their way out, they passed several of the guards that Sam had knocked out on her bloodthirsty raid towards the dungeon. Some were upside down in large potted plants, others were tied up and gagged with their own socks. Some of them were just lying down on the floor with several of their teeth on the floor nearby. Sam was definitely NOT to be trifled with.

The gang ran down the final hall and opened the door to the entrance room, where all the guards who hadn't been knocked out during Sam's quest or were locked up in the prison room though were waiting for them...

Along with King Julius.

"My my Erik... You sure do have a talent for not staying dead..." - Julius

"Oh no..." Erik said, as all the hope and excitement that had fueled his run to freedom was suddenly sucked out of him. Everyone else in the group caught the same feeling as well, their hopes of a quick escape to safety and freedom effectively dashed.

Julius stood about 20 feet in front of them, his most loyal guard right behind him, and about 30 other guards standing nearby, all carrying blunt objects such as bats and large hammers in their hands. None of the weapons were lethal, except for the sword that Julius carried in his hand, and the crossbow that the loyal guard behind him was pointing right at Erik.

"You have nowhere to go Erik. You're trapped in here like you always have been... You won't be able to fight your way out of here."

"Hey Elsa..." Erik whispered. "You think you could... Take Julius out from here?"

"What?" -Elsa

"You know... Just... Ice blast right to the head? Quick and painless?" - Erik

"Whoa I've never KILLED someone before Erik, that's not something I can just do whenever someone wants me to" - Elsa

"Why not? You blasted me and two guards with ice when you broke out before, just do that to Julius but a lot harder and then we can get out of here"

"I can hear you..." - Julius

"Look I was able to do that because I didn't actually see the guards. But to look someone in the face and then... Take their life?... It's just something I'm not comfortable with" - Elsa

"You know what else is uncomfortable? Being dead." - Kristoff interjected.

"Hey!" Anna protested, jabbing Kristoff in the gut hard with her elbow. "If Elsa doesn't want to kill someone then that's HER decision"

"Okay. You're right. It's just that it would be REALLY convenient if you did it like, right now." - Erik

"I can totally hear what you are planning." - Julius

"It's hard for me to explain, but this is just something I can't do..." - Elsa

"Can't, or won't?" - Kristoff

"It's that I simply CAN'T" - Elsa

"Elsa, I know that I've only known you for only a couple of hours or so, but you are one of the bravest, strongest people I know. I've been scared plenty of times in life but I feel perfectly safe knowing you're right here at my side" - Erik

"Aww, that's so sweet!" - Olaf

"HOW ABOUT A TRADE? Julius raised his voice to booming levels, tired of being ignored and disrespected by Erik, Elsa, and everyone else trying to escape.

Julius, the crafty bastard he is, knew pretty well that he and his men wouldn't be able to force Elsa and everyone else back into their cells, on account of Elsa had incredible powers, Kristoff being as strong as a bull, Sven being an actual reindeer, and Sam being half ninja apparently. If he couldn't force them back into their cells, he would have to try something crafty...

"You know... YOU guys are free to go... It's only Erik who has to stay" Julius said, gesturing to everyone else in the group.

A silence hung in the air as everyone, even some of the guards, wondered if their hearing had suddenly malfunctioned.

"What do you mean that WE are allowed to go?" - Sam

Julius put on a fake smile. "Well you guys busted out of your cells, and I certainly don't have the means to force you all back into them, so the only rational thing for me to do is... Let you guys walk out of here and avoid further needless bloodshed." Julius said, pacing around the room in between the guards on one side and the outsiders on the other."

"When have you EVER wanted to avoid bloodshed? That's kind of your thing!" Erik asked, incredulous at what he was hearing.

Julius smirked. "Let's call it a change of heart"

"He's lying. There's no way he would just let us waltz out of here without having something up his sleeve." Kristoff said aloud, suspicious of Julius's intentions.

"Nope, no nefarious plans here. No mischief at all." Julius denied. "Here, I'll even throw in the book proving young Anna's royal bloodline for your trip home. That is the whole reason why you came isn't it?" Julius pulled the book from inside his book and handing it right to Elsa

Elsa, suspecting a trap but still thrown off at the sudden offer, very carefully took the book from Julius's outstretched arms, suspecting him to turn evil at any second.

"There! Now you have your book, and you all are free to go, do enjoy your lives on the outside while I languish inside these walls... Ohhh how I wish my plan would have worked, but alas it did not, therefore I concede defeat and wish you all the best in life. Ta-taaa" - Julius

"Okay timeout" - Sam.

"Yeah, how do we know that you won't just attack us on our way out... Or something" - Anna

"You have my word on my honor that no harm will come to you or anyone else on your way out." Julius said, raising his right hand in the air as if he was under oath.

"Pfft, on your 'honor'?" Erik asked, remembering vividly how his brother tried to kill him with a crossbow earlier that day.

"You have your book, you have my assurance that you shall not be harmed on your way out of the kingdom, do we have a deal?" Julius asked Elsa, brushing off Erik's comment.

Elsa, suddenly put on the spot, didn't know how to respond and fumbled for words.

Anna took a place besides Elsa and responded for her. "Let's... Debilitate, over your offer for a moment."

Olaf: "You mean deliberate"

Anna tugged Elsa back through the door into the hallway and motioned everyone to follow her. Julius walked over behind Erik and rested his hand on his shoulder to prevent him from joining the group. Erik could only stand and watch as Anna then closed the doors into the hallway with everyone else in the group with her to weigh Julius's offer.

* * *

The door clicked shut.

"Okay... Whatta we do?" - Anna

"He's trying to get us to leave and leave Erik behind" - Sam

"Assuming he isn't planning to attack us on our way out" - Kristoff

"He probably would" - Sam

"What if we say no?" - Olaf

"Then... Umm..." - Anna

"If we say no then what would Julius do?" - Elsa wondered to herself out loud.

"This is definitely some sort of trick but I don't know what it is..." - Kristoff

"He gave us the book though so maybe he just does want us gone." - Sam

"Why is he suddenly so hesitant to get rid of us when moments before he was trying to kill us?" - Anna

"I don't know... This doesn't make any sense!" - Elsa

"Maybe we should take the deal and see what happens" - Olaf

"Are you crazy?" - Anna

"I'm a snowman, in a VOLCANO. I'm all for whatever option gets us far, far away from here... Even if it means leaving Erik behind" - Olaf

"We can't just LEAVE him though..." - Kristoff

"I'm open to the idea" - Sam

"You ARE?" - Anna

"But you said he would probably attack us on our way out!" - Olaf

"Yeah but then we would be that much closer to the exit... Why fight our way out of the palace and the entire city when we would only have to fight our way out of half the city?" - Sam

"We don't know for sure he would attack us..." - Elsa

"He's clearly planning SOMETHING though" - Anna

"I think we can all agree that Julius is up to something and that he is not to be trusted..." - Kristoff

"He reminds me a lot about that other guy we dealt with... What was his name?... Orange hair, long sideburns, Anna punched him in the face..." - Olaf "... BILLY! Thats who I was thinking of."

"Let's take a vote." - Anna. "All in favor of accepting the offer?"

Olaf and Sam raised their hands. Everyone else kept theirs lowered.

"All in favor of declining the offer?" - Anna

This time no one raised their hands.

"2-0, we win!" - Olaf

"No Olaf, the rest of us just haven't decided yet..." - Kristoff

"What are your thoughts Elsa?" - Sam

Elsa's mind was going a mile a minute, she didn't even hear the question. There were too many uncertainties for her to make up her mind about what should be done. _What would happen to Erik if we agreed to leave him here? What if Julius is preparing to attack us on our way out? What would he try to do to us if we declined the offer? Most importantly of all... Which option puts the LEAST risk on everyone?_

"What do you think Anna?" - Kristoff asked

"I'm really against the idea of leaving Erik behind. He'll probably end up dead if we leave him here with Julius, who is a giant BUTT" - Anna

"Then why didn't you raise your hand before when we took a vote?" - Sam

"Well... Cause... Because I want to support whatever decision Elsa makes." - Anna

"So Elsa gets two votes? That's not fair..." - Olaf

"What do you think?" - Anna asked Kristoff

"What does Sven think?" - Olaf

"Sven votes however I vote" - Kristoff

"Wait, so Elsa AND Kristoff get two votes? This system is rigged..." - Olaf

"Guys please, I'm trying to think" Elsa said, trying to fight off a migraine as she devoted every ounce of brainpower to deciding what they should do."

Anna turned back to Kristoff. "What do you think?" she whispered

Kristoff looked away and shrugged. "I... Don't trust Julius... None of us do, and really, I just want to make sure you don't get hurt"

"What about me?" - Olaf

"I don't want anyone to get hurt but I _especially_ don't want Anna to get hurt" - Kristoff

"What? Why is she more special than me?" - Olaf

"Cause she's my wife?" - Kristoff

"She's your fiancee, there's a difference!" - Olaf

While all of this was going on, Sam had scurried over towards Elsa to try to influence her.

"Look. I know this must be a tough decision for you to make, I certainly wouldn't want to be in your position... But I think we should take the deal..." - Sam

Elsa didn't respond, and instead simply weight Sam's words.

"The best option we have to avoid anyone getting hurt is to take the offer and leave... I know that Erik gets the short end of the stick on this one, but if we don't take the offer, then we ALL get put at risk..."

Elsa remained silent. Sam continued.

"Erik is cute and all I'll give him that, but Anna is family... Kristoff is family... Sven and Olaf are... Well I'm not sure because I'm still new to this group and all but the point is that Erik is NOT family... As cynical as this is to say, he is expendable to the group, in the same way that I am expendable to the group..."

Elsa looked at Sam, stunned at what she was hearing.

"I'm a squirrel. And while I've come to appreciate you guys a lot in the few days I've hung out with you, I would understand if in a tough situation, you would choose to save your sister over me... Right?"

Elsa nodded.

"Right. You would pick Anna over me. You would also pick Anna and Kristoff, and Olaf, and Sven over me as well if it was me vs all of them. Right?" - Sam

Elsa nodded again. Sam decided to drive the point home

"So look, if you would pick your actual family over me, then you would pick your actual family over Erik as well, since me and Erik are both outsiders who are not part of your family... You're primary concern is protecting those who are part of your family, and you would not put them at significant risk for someone else, would you?"

Elsa shook her head, after a pause.

"Then take the deal... I wouldn't hold it against you if you chose your family over leaving me behind, and Erik won't as well."

Elsa was now convinced. Though she hated the very thought about leaving Erik behind after he had done so much to help them, family always comes first. Elsa had already lost her family once, she wasn't about to risk losing it all again.

"We are NOT dressing up in horse outfits and sneaking out of here" Kristoff said to Olaf as Elsa tuned back in to their conversation.

"Guys... I've made up my mind." Elsa said. Everyone else immediately fell silent to listen. "The one thing I care more than anything else is making sure that Anna is safe... Because she is my family, and family always comes first..."

She paused, before continuing.

"Erik... Is not family. And If I ever have to choose between family and someone else, I'll pick family every single time... So I think we should take the deal..."

Everyone stayed hushed. Elsa undeniably had the strongest connection with Erik, so to hear her so bluntly say she would leave him behind for the sake of everyone was a bit surprising to actually hear.

"Let's take a vote" Sam said. "All in favor raise your hand."

Sam raised her hand first, Olaf did second...

After a pause, Elsa raised her hand as well.

Anna, being against leaving Erik behind but also saying she would support Elsa's decision, raised her hand next.

Kristoff and Sven then raised their hands in unison after Anna raised her hand.

While nobody was thrilled with making the decision and all of them realizing that Erik could very well be killed if they left him behind, all 6 members of the group held up their hands in favor of taking the deal.

"Then it's settled. 6 votes in favor of taking the deal, 0 against" Sam said as everyone lowered their hands.

* * *

The door to the entrance room cracked open, and the gang made their way through the door out of the hallway. All of the guards were still in the room waiting for them, and when they entered through the door, they all stood up straight and waited for orders.

Julius stood in front of all the guards, patiently waiting for them to make their decision.

Erik was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Erik?" - Kristoff demanded

"Not here. I didn't want his presence to upset you or tempt you to do something foolish... Have you made a decision?" - Julius

"We have" Elsa paused. "We'll take your offer."

Julius smirked in a way that would entice someone to try to knock out all of his teeth. "I knew that you would."

He waved at the guards behind him. "Resume your posts. Except you two. Yes you. You two escort the party out of the castle and remember, no harm is to come to any of them."

The rest of the guards scattered into the rest of the castle while the two remaining guards opened the doors to the outside. Elsa and the rest of the group hesitantly made their way towards the exit, still prepared for whatever it was Julius was planning.

Olaf went out first, telling everyone it was all clear. Kristoff and Sven followed behind him, confirming that it was clear. Anna exited next with Sam perched on her shoulder, and Elsa walked out last.

But not before asking Julius one last time.

"Where is Erik?" She asked, genuinely fearful for where he could be.

Julius softly laughed in a way that only Elsa could hear him. He paused.

"Does it really matter anymore?"

Julius walked back into the castle as Elsa watched from behind, disgusted at him, but also starting to feel ashamed at herself for making the decision to leave Erik behind. She turned and walked out of the castle while the two guards closed the doors behind her, before they then led them out of Heilios.

* * *

Julius's loyal guard accompanied him towards the lookout room. "Sir let me go in with you. He is dangerous, and I am under oath to do whatever it takes to protect you."

Julius turned to him. "Do you doubt my strength or my ability to defend myself?"

The guard shook his head. "Not at all sir. I trust your judgement and your rule and your strength... It is the cunning of Erik and his resilience that I do not trust. Please let me go in with you, I believe it to be unwise to go into a room with him alone."

"Very well if you really insist." Julius said as he came to the door. "But if he so much as tries to pull anything... Shoot him in the head this time."

The guard nodded and armed his crossbow. He and King Julius made their way into the lookout room where Erik was imprisoned, bracing for what would happen next.

* * *

Erik's hands were tied behind him, his ankles tied together, and he was tied to the side of the wall in three different places. He was restrained in a way where he was forced to stare out the narrow horizontal window looking over the rest of the kingdom. He watched as Elsa, Anna, and the rest of them left the castle, choosing to leave him behind.

The door shut behind him. "They left you behind Erik..." Julius said. He took heavy footsteps as he approached Erik from behind. "They were always going to leave you behind..."

Erik was beyond disheartened to see Elsa and everyone else leaving, he could still feel her warm embrace from when they had hugged. He would treasure that feeling for the rest of his life... However short that may be.

"Why'd you let them go?" Erik asked, still confused behind Julius's intentions. The moment the doors closed where Elsa and them debated what to do, Julius had had Erik bound, gagged, and escorted up into the lookout room as a prisoner. Erik expected that to happen, but he still couldn't figure out what Julius was planning.

"You've been my little brother for your entire life, and you still cant figure out my motives behind my actions?" Julius chuckled. "I guess I'm a better strategist than I give myself credit for..."

"Spill it. What's your deal? What are you hoping to accomplish here by letting them go free?" Erik asked, genuinely intrigued.

"When you love something... You let it go..." Julius responded.

Erik whipped around in shock, the restraints being the only thing preventing him from turning all the way around.

Erik was shocked "You're in love with Elsa?"

"What? Pfft... Hell no." Julius scoffed. "It's POWER that I love... Control that I love... Letting them go free is how I maintain control over them." - Julius explained

"Oh I see... You're nuts" - Erik

"Do you think they wont try to come back for you?" Julius asked, standing next to Erik while his guard gripped his crossbow. "The minute they went to think the offer over is when I knew they cared about you. Soon they will change their mind and come up with some sort of plan to try to free you, or try to trade for you..."

"How do you know they'll come back for me?" - Erik

"Because that's the fatal flaw of being a good guy..." Julius explained. "Being a good guy means no one gets left behind... It means help everyone who can be helped, and it means don't leave people behind to die... Being a bad guy frees myself from such pathetic causes, it grants me the ability to not worry about guilt, or friendship, or the well-being of others... Furthermore, being the bad guy allows me to exploit the well-being of one person to influence the actions of others, of the 'good guys'..."

"You're using me as leverage..." Erik began to understand. "Keep me alive and in here to prevent the others from leaving..."

"Now you're getting it." Julius replied. "If I couldn't get them to stay through force, I'll get them to stay by giving them something to want to come back get... You"

"And if they come back... How will you stop them from busting me out of here?" - Erik

"Who says who'll still be alive by then?" - Julius

He pulled out a knife and held it in his right hand.

"All the guards will know where you are being kept, so when those fools come back to retrieve you, they'll have no problem finding out where you are being held. Only problem is that when they do fight their way up here, they will not find you alive and well, patiently waiting to be rescued like some princess locked up in a tower..." - Julius. "Instead, they'll only find your body... Or at least what's left of it... They'll find your limbs and your blood, and they'll see for themselves that I am not someone who shows mercy. They will be so horrified at what they find that they will then be subdued and imprisoned just like before, and I'll be right back to where I was before."

Julius gripped his knife tighter.

"The only difference is that this time around, you will STAY dead..."

Elsa and the gang had long vanished from site deep into the town outside by now. Julius grasped his left hand on Erik's shoulder and forced him into the wall, holding him steady to deal the final blow. Erik struggled as much as he could to wiggle out of his grasp, desperately trying to avoid the blade of his knife entering him. Chains began rattling everywhere as the struggle ensued, and Erik's head was pointed away from Julius as he was pinned against the wall. He moved his shoulders up and down as much as possible, moved left and right as hard as he could, he did everything he could to try to get Julius to only land a glancing blow on him with his knife rather than a direct hit.

Julius grasped on Erik's shoulder even harder and Erik braced for the incoming blow. Erik writhed around furiously trying to free himself from Julius's grasp, this was a life or death scenario now! He resisted as much as he could, fighting for his life, fighting for his freedom... Fighting for Elsa and her family.

Julius's grip tightened on Erik's shirt but he could no longer pin Erik up against the wall. Erik began exploiting his newfound space to try wriggle free from Julius's grip that much more, still waiting for that first blow to come and feverishly fighting to make him miss.

Julius's grip slipped a little to the point that he was now just grabbing Julius's shirt rather than actually holding him against the wall, and Erik finally got enough room to turn his head around to see when the blow was coming.

Erik turned around and stared into Julius's glaring eyes as he tried to wriggle free from his grip, but he froze at what he sa.

Julius had an arrow going through his throat.


	17. Chapter 16

(Ok I realize it's a bit unfair to leave you guys on that cliffhanger in the last chapter for a long period of time, so I decided to go ahead and make the next chapter to ease your minds... A little...)

* * *

Erik stared at Julius in complete shock. The arrow had entered Julius at the very back of his neck near his spine, and emerged from the front of his throat just to the right of his Adam's Apple. The arrow though did not pass clean through Julius's neck like a bullet however, instead it was lodged there, like a toothpick going through an olive.

Julius fell to the floor choking and gasping for air. As his movements slowed, Erik glanced up at the exit to the room to find that only he and Julius's most loyal guard were the only other people in the room.

_It was the loyal guard, the one person Julius trusted with his life more tan anyone else, who had fired the shot._

"Alright come on we don't have much time" - The guard

"What the hell are you talking about?" - Erik

"Look it's a long story but we don't have much time, we have to find Elsa and the rest of their group and get out of here while we still can" - The guard.

"We who? You want to come with me? Who the heck are you really?" - Erik said, stunned and confused as the guard proceeded on unlocking the chains keeping Erik in his cell.

"Lower your voice, otherwise the guards outside the door might hear you and barge in." - The guard.

"You killed Julius! You KILLED King Julius!" - Erik said, ignoring the guard's request. "You killed him!"

"YES. ALRIGHT? I KILLED THE KING." The guard said, raising his voice. "That means I'M the King now. And if YOU dont SHUT UP then I'm going to kill you next!..."

Erik quieted down, but only out of complete confusion rather than intimidation from the guard. He unlocked the last of Erik'c chains, giving him complete freedom of his arms and legs back to him. Erik felt like he was slipping into semi-consiousness as his mind struggled with comprehending all that is happening all around him. He felt like he was having an out of body experience, or was experiencing everything as if he was on auto-pilot. He was free, Elsa and the gang are alive, Julius was now dead, his most loyal guard was the one who shot him, and now he wants to help Erik escape with Elsa and her family out of Heilios, even though he was now the ruler of it since he killed the king, which by Heilios law means he now inherits the crown.

"Who are you?" Erik asked, as the loyal guard re-armed his crossbow and handed Erik a sword.

The guard got up close to Erik and stared at him. The helmet that he and all other guards wore over their head concealed most of their heads and faces, only his mouth and his eyes could easily be seen up close. The helmets were similar to the ones that the 300 Spartans wore when they famously did battle with the Persians at Thermopylae.

The guard's eyes were royal blue, much like Erik's. As he removed his helmet, his hair emerged, jet black and messy, also like Erik's.

_"I'm your older brother"_ Was all he said...

* * *

Elsa glanced around suspiciously as the two guards led her and the rest of the gang through the city of Heilios towards the exit. Like before, the streets were mostly empty, and only occasionally could they get a glance at some of the impoverished residents of the city. As they walked through the city, each of them glanced down alleyways and around corners, looking for any sign that an ambush or some sort of sneak-attack was about to come. All of them were ready for whatever happened next.

But minutes passed by and nothing happened... They made their way through the city and soon were approaching the gigantic exit tunnel that they had come through before. There were no other guards around them, and it looked like there were no guards preparing to ambush them, at least from what anyone in the group could see.

Fear gave away to cautious optimism as the group came closer and closer to safety and freedom. It looked like the one time Julius decided to keep his word took place the one time where it counted. As the group was escorted closer and closer to the exit, a feeling of glee soon began to engulf each of the people in the group, but the feeling of guilt over leaving Erik behind also became present.

Elsa glanced back towards the city as the group made their way to the tunnel leading outside, she was beginning to feel as if she had made the wrong decision after all.

* * *

The guard bolted through the door and sucker-punched one of the other guards standing outside, before shooting the other guard with the crossbow.

"What the **(CENSORED FOR YOUR PROTECTION)** do you mean you're my brother!?"- Erik asked, bewildered.

The guard pulled the arrow out of the other guard he had just shot and reloaded his crossbow. "Dad had an affair a long time ago. Officially he had 3 sons but he fathered a child with someone else before that, I'm that child." He explained. "I was born 5 years before Julius and I was 8 when I went into hiding."

"Hiding?" Erik asked, as he followed his brother down the hall and around a corner.

"Well yeah I went into hiding! You would to if you were next in line to a throne that people wanted to kill you to claim for themselves!" He continued. "I didn't want to be king but I didn't want to die even more then that, so I kept my identity secret from Julius and all of you and ended up becoming a guard for the palace."

"Wait. Why would our dad just let you go into hiding and deny that you were his son?" - Erik.

"You know that dad never really cared about us..." - Erik's brother.

"Good point." He followed how brother down a hallway towards a staircase that would take them down towards the exit. "Why did you stay at the palace as a guard though?"

"I wanted to keep an eye on my brothers" He said as he led Erik down the staircase. "I always wanted to try to protect you guys from harm and from yourselves so I stuck around here to keep an eye on you guys and help you when you needed it... That's how I ended up earning Julius's trust"

"If you wanted to protect us then why did you just kill Julius?" Erik asked as they exited the staircase. His brother kicked a guard and knocked him out cold, before yanking Erik into another room to avoid being detected.

"Because as I've watched him slowly turn evil, I realized that he needed to die..." He responded, lowering his voice as footsteps walked past the two brothers outside. "He needed to be killed but I also needed some sort of escape plan if I killed him to get out of here. I never wanted to be king and I sure as hell dont want to be king now..."

The guard outside walked past them and the two brothers quickly dashed down the hallway once the path was clear.

"So what is your name?" Erik asked.

"Call me Hector"

"Got it. Nice to meet you Hector!" Erik and his brother stealthily took out another guard as they made their way around another corner in the palace.

* * *

As the group walked through the tunnel, the warmth from the inner volcano began to give away to the freezing cold outside. The bitter cold slowly engulfed each person with every slow but steady step they took through the tunnel... The two guards led them closer and closer to the exit of Mt. Khan, and as the idea of freedom from this wretched place became realized, each person in the group still devoted some thought to wondering if they had made the right decision. Sam felt the least guilt overall, Olaf a distant second, but Anna and Elsa were both consumed by guilt. Lord knows what kind of hell Erik is in right now.

* * *

"THE PRISONER IS ESCAPING!" A guard yelled. Erik and Hector had been spotted, and within seconds the entire castle was scrambling to find them. They had to move fast and move quick if they were to avoid being captured, and if they didn't make it to the exit when Elsa and the rest of her group did, then all of their effort would have been in vain.

The way the doors leading out of Heilios worked was that two people were required to keep the doors unlocked when people were entering or exiting. After Anna and Elsa's father escaped from Heilios long ago, the then-ruler of Heilios ordered that the doors leading out of the castle be altered so that it became incredibly difficult for the doors to stay unlocked after they had been unlocked. Locking mechanisms using large gears were outfitted on each door in a way so that nobody could leave or potentially escape from Heilios without 2 people having to stay behind to keep the doors open and letting the others escape to freedom. Later, a law was passed stating that those who would volunteer to stay behind and keep the doors open to help others escape were punishable by the death penalty upon being apprehended, and the family members of those people also were subjected to the death penalty.

King Julius was the one who implemented that law.

With their cover blown though, Erik and Hector would not be able to sneak out of Heilios by duping two guards into helping them. Their only hope was to catch up with Elsa's group, who were being escorted out of Heilios by two guards, and hope to escape with them, otherwise they would be stuck in Heilios with no allies with them to open the doors and let them escape.

"How many arrows do you have?" Erik asked Hector, as he took down another guard.

"Three!" Hector responded. "That's why I've been recycling the arrows whenever possible."

"Should we stop by the armory and get more?" - Erik

"No time! If we don't get to the exit in time we'll be dead no matter what" - Hector

The two managed to fight their way out of the palace and onto the streets of Heilios, but all the guards of Heilios were hot on their tail now.

* * *

"Wait here" One of the guards said as they reached the exit of the tunnel.

The doors were even larger than Elsa remembered them to be when they first entered the mountain, and the bitter cold outside was also more frigid than she remembered it to be as well. The outer-clothing the group had before had been shed when they entered deep into the city within the volcano, so they would have to move fast from the tunnel to the ship if they didn't want to freeze to death.

"Where are you going?" Kristoff asked, suspicious.

"We need to open the doors for you guys so that you can leave" the other guard said. He followed the first guard up a flight of stairs in a hidden corridor carved into the walls, which Elsa and the rest of the group didn't notice when they first entered the castle.

The group patiently waited at the end of the tunnel for the doors to open, bracing for the storm awaiting them outside.

* * *

A throwing axe landed in the wall of a small house inches from Erik's face as he and his brother darted through the streets of Heilios, with 20 guards and counting in pursuit.

"Why do they keep aiming for ME?" Erik yelled, his lungs about to collapse from the amount of running he was suddenly subjecting himself to. Erik began to wish he had practiced his cardio before, his own body just might kill him before any of the guards do.

"Probably because they don't know that I killed the king!" Hector called back. "Once they find out that I'm the new King, they'll start aiming for me so that they can claim the title for themselves!" he added

A throwing knife nicked Erik's shoulder as they bolted around yet another corner, but the sheer adrenaline and panic that was fueling Erik's lightning-fast run for freedom prevented him from feeling any pain. "How many arrows do you have left now?" Erik asked.

"Just one." - Hector

"Well make it count!" Erik yelled, as a spear lodged itself in a wall they ran past. They could see the entrance to the tunnel a couple of streets away.

* * *

The doors slowly creaked open and the winter winds outside pounded the group, chapping some lips and almost freezing some eyelids closed. The whiteout from the blizzard outside combined with the whipping winds to almost be blinding to Elsa and everyone else in the group. Luckily the port where the Arendelle flagship was stationed was close enough for Elsa to remember where to go, meaning they would only have to aim in the right direction to make it out of there, regardless if they could see or not.

Elsa's guilt for leaving Erik behind faded as it was replaced by fear for someone getting lost in the blizzard outside and freezing to death. It's one thing to elect to leave someone behind on purpose, but it was something else completely to leave someone behind on accident, and Elsa wasn't about to let that happen.

"Everyone hold hands with someone and hang on." She ordered, thinking of how to best protect everyone. "Do not let go of the person you're with, and try your best to keep close to the person in front of you.

Olaf teamed up with Sven and held onto his back for dear life, while Kristoff and Anna clenched their hands together, leaving Sam and Elsa as teammates. Sam climbed up on Elsa's shoulder and dug in to her clothing, everyone ready to run for their very lives.

The doors opened wider and wider while the winds outside intensified. They could see some of the abandoned houses outside the castle, but there was no sight of the ship or the harbor it was stationed in. Everyone lined up behind Elsa and Sam and waited for her signal.

"3..." She began...

"2..."

"1..."

"GO!"

* * *

An arrow grazed Erik's leg as he and Hector made it to the entrance of the tunnel, they were now in the home stretch. Erik has dropped his sword earlier int eh chase through the city, so the only means they had to defend themselves was to use Hector's crossbow as a club.

Without any corners to dart around or buildings to evade through, Erik and Hector now were in the open from any ranged attempts to take them down. There would be no more conveniently placed buildings or walls to absorb any incoming weapons for Erik or Hector, they had to rely completely on speed to stay alive now, and that would be a problem.

Erik's lungs felt ready to explode as he tried to gasp for air, and hector was feeling winded as well. They were fortunate that the guards were feeling the sting in their sides from running after them as well, but unless Erik and Hector put more distance between themselves and the guards, it would only be a matter of time before one lucky throw or one lucky shot would take one of them down.

They ran down the tunnel, running a slight zig-zag pattern to try their best to avoid any incoming shots. Once in a while a small knife would land harmlessly besides them, or a football-sized chunk of rock would whiz by their heads missing by about a foot. The large outfits worn by the guards began to take their toll, as Erik had none and was that much faster as a result, while Hector had been shedding pieces of his armor as he had run through the town.

They ran for their lives down the tunnel, the echo of the guards calling for their deaths and running after them full speed the only thing keeping up with them as they ran.

Their pace began to slow halfway down the tunnel. The adrenaline rush was giving away and fatigue and exhaustion began to take its place. The two began to verbally push each other on, but it was all in vain, as both were now sapped in their energy and couldn't help but start to slow down. They both knew that if they didnt make it to the end of the tunnel in time they would be meeting certain death, but with their hearts beating almost uncontrollably and their lungs feeling like they were about to burst, the two brothers had reached their physical limits.

They no longer ran a zig-zagged pattern down the tunnel since they needed to preserve as much energy as possible. The projectiles being shot and thrown their way was now landing closer and closer to them, some of which even began to overshoot them and land in front of them as they ran. Both Erik and Hector considered bending over to pick up one of the weapons to defend themselves later if they had to, but the fear of falling down as they bent over or simply being unable to start running again after stopping prevented them from attempting it.

When all seemed lost, many of the guards behind them began to give up and stop running, having reached their physical limits as well. Their sprints turned in to slight jogs and shuffled walks as they realized that since they had chased the duo into the tunnel, they would have nowhere to go once they hit the very end, meaning they could take their time pursuing them since the fugitives had nowhere else to go. Erik and Hector now had their chance.

But when they reached the end of the tunnel, the doors were completely shut.

* * *

"Halt!" One guard said, as he emerged from the hidden passage in the side of the wall. Another guard followed behind him and raised his fists in preparation for a fight, while Hector and Erik stared in dismay at the large doors in front of them being closed.

"Open the gates!" Hector ordered.

One guard laughed. "Drop your weapon and raise your hands!" he ordered, as other guards began to make their way towards the end of the tunnel.

"I am your KING. Open these doors!" Hector demanded

"YOU'RE the king?" The other guard asked in skepticism. "Yeah, right..."

"Yes, I am the king... And as king I order you to open the doors, now!" - Hector

"Sorry 'king', unless I can get some proof that you actually ARE the king, you aren't going anywhere..." The first guard said

"I saw him kill the king myself!" Erik piped up, trying to provide the evidence the guard asked for. More guards began to close in on them from deeper in the tunnel, so they had to act fast if they were going to trick these to guards into re-opening the doors for them.

"And what makes us think we'll believe YOU?" A guard asked. "You're the prisoner trying to escape! You have no credibility here..."

They weren't buying it, and as despair set in, Hector resorted to using force. He charged up to one guard and bashed him upside his helmet with his crossbow, causing parts of it to splinter as the guard was sent to the floor. The other went to throw a punch, but Hector dodged it, and he swung his crossbow upwards right into the face of the second guard throwing the guard flat on his back but causing the crossbow to splinter into a million wooden pieces all around him.

"Open the doors!" He demanded.

It was too late. The other guards pursuing them caught up with them and began to corner Erik and Hector at the end of the tunnel. Hector bend down and picked up two sharp pieces of wood in each hand, using them as improvised knives and getting ready to defend himself. Erik picked up a helmet that fell off of one of the guards and began to wield it like a large rock in defense.

Things were looking very grim for them now.


	18. Chapter 17

Everyone clamored inside the ship as fast as they could to escape the blistering cold outside, two guards using all of their might to force the doors shut. They made their way into the main bedroom where Olaf, Kristoff, and Sven had slept on the voyage over to Heilios, because it was the only room that was big enough to house Sven and company.

"WOW that was close" Kristoff panted, hands on his knees and winded

"Guys we have a problem, I cant feel my toes!" - Olaf

"You don't have any toes…." - Sam

"Oh my GOD YOU GUYS I LOST MY TOES!" - Olaf

"It's okay. We're fine" Anna said, trying to calm everyone down. "Once the guards scrape enough snow off of the deck we can cast off and het the FRICK out of here"

"Theyre going to go shovel snow off of the ship, during a blizzard? Why would they do that?" - Sam

"Snow is heavy. With so much of it on the top deck of the ship we risk being too low in the sea if we cast off if we don't capsize completely." Kristoff explained.

"How long do you think that will take?" Anna asked Elsa. Elsa though wasn't paying any attention, she was lost in thought about the choice that they as a group had made before, and she was now reevaluating the decisions that had been made. She tried to mask her guilt from Anna, but Anna knew Elsa almost better than Elsa knew herself. Anna figured out pretty quickly that Elsa was having regrets about leaving Erik behind, and she figured that sooner or later that Elsa would start having those regrets. Anna just figured they wouldn't have bubbled up as quickly as they did.

No one else besides her noticed though.

"Well we should help out any way we can. The sooner we get away from here and all these lunatics, the better, and we have our proof right?" - Sam

Kristoff whipped out the book from inside his coat that Julius had given them before, proving that Anna's bloodline was one of royalty. The book proving Kristoff's royal bloodline on the other hand was still with Erik, who could be dead or alive for all any of them knew. "I have the book, so yes we can get out of here first chance we get." he added.

"Hey Elsa do you think you could use your snow powers to get the snow off of the ship so we can leave, or do your powers not work that way?" Olaf asked Elsa, spurring everyone to shift their gaze to her.

Elsa was put on the spot once again, where all eyes on her. As she glanced from one person to another, she could see in almost each of their faces about their eagerness to leave, to leave Heilios and everyone in it behind and move on with their lives. The lone exception was Anna, who could see that Elsa was still torn over leaving Erik behind. Using the 6th sense that exists only between sisters who have an unshakeable and unbreakable bond between each other, Anna encouraged Elsa to speak her mind, rather than concealing her feelings about leaving Erik behind.

"I…." Elsa started. "I'm….. Having….. Second thoughts about leaving Erik behind" She admitted

Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven were all surprised at hearing Elsa voice her regret, since Elsa was one of the first people to agree that leaving Erik behind was the right option to pursue. Anna lit up at seeing Elsa do the right thing by speaking her mind, and Sam seemed disappointed that Elsa had a change of heart.

"Really?" Sam asked in disappointment, earning an angry glare from Anna

"Are you sure?" Kristoff asked, genuinely surprised. "But we actually made it out of there!"

"I'm just not okay with leaving people behind just to save our own skin" - Elsa

"So we're going back to save Erik?" Olaf asked eagerly, even excitedly

"Whoa, hang on there… Whoa…." Kristoff chimed in, protesting the idea. "Just how exactly do we get back IN to Heilios even if we WANTED to rescue Erik? We're kind of locked out of the entire mountain now…."

"Volcano" Olaf corrected him

"Whatever" - Kristoff

"We'll find a way" Anna jumped in. Where Elsa was careful, Anna was fearless and ambitious. If there was a task at hand, nothing was going to stop her from not giving it her best attempt, no matter how monumental the task or challenge she was facing was.

"We can't just force our way inside and rescue Erik, this is probably what Julius had planned!" Sam protested, correctly guessing king Julius's original intentions.

"I'm just saying I'm having second thoughts about this…" Elsa replied, not wanting to have everyone pick sides between leave Erik to die or attacking Heilios.

"Lets have a vote! I vote we save Erik!" - Olaf

"I vote we leave" - Sam

"I also vote that we go back and save Erik!" Anna said, this time not waiting for Elsa to vote before casting her own vote.

"I'm with Sam on this one" Kristoff said, siding with Sam.

"What do you mean you're with Sam on this one?" Anna asked, upset at Kristoff.

"We're already free! We can leave and put all of this behind us and never have to worry about this again! We can go home, get married, and have our wedding. Isn't that what you want Anna?" Kristoff asked

Anna, hearing Kristoff bring up the wedding, suddenly began to reconsider the situation. As much as she was ready to kick butt in saving Erik and do what she thought was the right thing, she began to fear about what she was now risking if they decided to go try to rescue Erik.

Sam then tried to capitalize on Anna's moment of confusion.

"What all would we be risking to go save Erik?" She began. "One of us could very well _die_ if we try to rescue him. Is that the risk you guys are willing to take? Sacrificing someone in this room who you love just to save Erik?"

The seeds of doubt and fear were sown into everyone's minds. Sam had them right where she wanted them. "What could we gain by going back and freeing Erik, the peace of mind that we did the right thing? Fine... But what could we _lose_? What will we be risking in going back to try to save him?…. (She paused for dramatic effect)… We could lose everything…" Sam reasoned.

She knew she couldn't reason with everyone that leaving Erik behind was somehow sensible, but if she could scare everyone into leaving Erik behind by threatening that something could go horribly wrong, then that would be all that it would take… She didn't have to convince them forever that going back for Erik was too risky, she only had to convince them that it was too risky until the ship left harbor... Because after that, the harbor would freeze over, and going back to rescue Erik would just be that much harder, if not flat out impossible. "If we go back to try to save Erik, you would be putting everything you've fought for up to this point at risk. You could lose your fiancé, your best friend, your only sister… Are you willing to risk them dying? Risk them for Erik?"

Everyone was dead silent, everyone exchanging nervous glances with each other. Looks of worry had crept onto everyone's faces, as no one wanted to even entertain the idea that someone in the room could die if they voted to go save Erik. Everyone in the room shared the same fear of losing someone close to them, and Sam knew that.

Capitalizing on everyone's deepest fear of losing someone they love, Sam restarted the vote. "Raise your hand if you still want to try to save Erik…"

Fear is single handedly the most powerful force in the world that exists to prevent someone from doing something, whether it be fear of being harmed, fear of the uncertain and uknown, fear of the future, fear of failing, even the fear of doing everything right and still coming up short. At that moment in that room on that ship, fear was the one force that was forcing everyone from raising their hand.

Everyone, except one person….

Or rather….. One snowman…..

Olaf raised his hand, much to the astonishment of everyone else. His stick arm with three tinier sticks for fingers was raised high, almost defiantly into the air.

All eyes were now on Olaf, who, noticing all the looks of surprise and shock on peoples faces, explained his position.

"We are all very scared of what could happen if we do this, I get that" He began. "You don't want to try to save Erik because you don't want to risk losing your family… I'm scared to, because snowmen and giant volcanos usually don't mix well…. But the thing is… Erik is what made us a family again…"

Everyone hung on Olaf's every word as he explained what he meant.

"Erik was the one who helped us get in to Heilios, Erik was the one who helped us find proof of Anna's bloodline. Without him, we would not be able to go back to Arendelle and have Anna marry Kristoff and still be able to live in the palace…" He turned to Anna and Elsa. "We would not have been able to know once and for all that you two are sisters…" He turned back to everyone else. "What we have is a family, and although it is a weird family that involves a mountain man, a reindeer, a magical snowman, and now a talking squirrel, we are a family…. We have been a family before, but Erik gave us what we needed to help us STAY a family, he gave us the book we needed that proves Anna's bloodline, which is what we came all this way to get in the first place."

(Cue soft inspirational music)

"We owe everything we have right now to Erik for helping us stay a family, and although the risk to go back into Heilios is huge, the fact that we are a family makes us stronger than they are." Olaf then went all in. "We have a mountain man as strong as a bull, we have a reindeer who can charge through ten men, we have a queen who can harness and bend the forces of ice and snow to her will, we have a squirrel who is half ninja apparently, we have Anna who is lethal when armed with a frying pan, we can do this you guys!… We can go break back into Heilios, rescue Erik, take out the guards, make Julius eat a lemon, and break back out and head home where we can all be the family we can be thanks to what Erik did for us!"

(Inspirational music grows faster paced and grows increasingly dramatic)

"Who wants to try to save Erik?" Olaf asked, raising his hand.

Anna's hand shot up. "I vote we save Erik"

Kristoff followed suit. "I vote yes, and so does Sven" Sven gave a nodding look of approval.

Sam kept her hand down, still unsure, and turned to Elsa, as did everyone else.

Although Olaf's rousing speech inspired Kristoff, Sven, and Anna to vote yes, Elsa was still thinking it over. 3 out of 5 votes were already 'yes' votes, but nobody in the room would have gone through with the plan if Elsa was against the idea, since she was far and away the most powerful one out of all of them, and they would have zero chance at rescuing Erik without Elsa working with them. At the same time, no one would back out from going back to save Erik if Elsa asked them to. Elsa had absolute authority on what the group would decide to do no matter how they voted.

Elsa looked at the faces of everyone in the group. Looks of fear that gripped everyone just moments before had been replaced with looks of hope and ambition, with Sam being the only exception. She then thought of the one person not in the room at all, Erik. Although Sam was right that Erik wasn't family when Sam first convinced Elsa to leave him behind before, Olaf was also correct that Erik helped them stay a family. Erik had helped them so much and he gave everyone their futures back….

(Music dramatically increases in tempo)

A half grin slid over Elsa's face as her heart began to clinch faster. Her hands gently but firmly formed into fists as her mind steadily became made up. She knew in her heart now that the right thing to do was to go back and save Erik, and that no matter how stacked the odds against them may have been, they still had to try.

Elsa glanced back at everyone in the group wearing a newfound look of confidence, nodding ever so slightly. She did not raise her hand, and instead voted vocally.

"Lets find king Julius….." She smirked "… And let's kick his ass"

* * *

The guards had Erik and Hector pinned into a corner, both of them defenseless to fight back against the guards should they decide to simply mob him and his brother. Hector was about to give up hope, Erik had already given up hope, when a commotion towards the back of the tunnel they had been chased through began. It was one or two voices at first, yelling something but not anything that Hector or Erik could understand, but as other people began repeating what they were hearing for others to hear, it soon became clear. A barrage of yells were soon being thrown left and right

"King Julius has been killed!"  
"King Julius is dead!"  
"Are you sure?"  
"King Julius is dead!"  
"He was found in the dungeon with an arrow through his throat!"  
"Wait he's actually dead?"  
"Someone saw that it was his loyal guard who killed him!"

The barrage of confused shouts continued until Hector hatched an idea in his head. It was brainless and arguably asinine, but if it worked, and it just might, it would make him look like a genius.

"LISTEN UP... I SAID LISTEN UP!" Hector began yelling over everyone, trying to get their attention.

The guards eventually quieted down, thrown off of their usual distrust of Hector and Erik by the news of King Julius being found dead.

After getting their attention, Hector launched his plan. "I was the one who killed King Julius!" He began, very carefully stepping towards some of the guards. "I was the one who shot him in the throat with a crossbow, and I was the one who was King Julius's most loyal guard!"

Shouts of 'Traitor!' and 'Coward!' began being yelled by some guards, but Hector spoke over them.

"That makes ME your new king." Hector continued. "And as your KING, you are ORDERED to open these gates!"

"And why dont we just kill you now so that one of US can become King?" One guard asked, prompting several murmurs of agreement by other guards thirsty for a shot at the throne. They had all been mistreated by King Julius and fantasized at some point about how they would rule Heilios, so they were far more willing to kill Heilios and try to claim the throne for themselves than they were willing to obey him.

Crap... Hector thought to himself. His plan of trying to order the guards to let them escape didnt work. Time for Plan B.

Hector bent over to pick up a shard of wood from the shattered crossbow that was near a guards feet. He then hastily retreated back towards Erik for his own safety about what was about to happen next.

"If you refuse to accept me as your king, then my duty is to appoint a new one whose authority you WILL respect." - Hector

Grasping the wooden shard in his hand, Hector then aimed the pointy end of the stick towards the palm of his hand... And plunged the stick into his own flesh

"WHAT THE" Erik yelled out, cutting off only to stop himself from vomiting. Several guards nearby also recoiled at seeing Hector cut his hand open.

The wooden shard Hector held in his good hand was now coated with a fresh paint of his own blood at the tip of it. He then held the shard of wood up over his head as if it was the Holy Grail itself. "This shard of wood carries the blood of me, my father, and my father before him. A good leader must show strength and cunning. So whoever brings back to me this shard of wood, WILL BECOME THE NEW KING!"

Wasting no time at all, Hector backed up, and using every ounce of strength and momentum he had left in his body, hurled the piece of wood deep into the crowd of guards surrounding them in the tunnel. Still trying to understand if they heard Hector correctly, all the guards frantically chased after the shard of wood, piling on top of one another and doing everything in their power to get the shard of wood for themselves.

All the guards were now distracted and beating the daylights out of each other for a slim chance at becoming the new king of Heilios.

"Dude, that was pretty crafty" Erik admitted, impressed by Hector's plan.

"I didn't think that would work at all to be honest... Come on we don't have much time!"

Hector led Erik towards the center of the tunnel where other shards of the shattered crossbow lied on the ground. Hector picked up one shard for himself, and one shard for Erik, tossing it to him with his good hand and leading Erik towards the hidden tunnel where the gates are opened.

"What now?" - Erik

"We find 2 guards and have them open the doors for us by threatening them" - Hector

"Threaten them with what, some shards of wood?" Erik asked skeptically

"Just, try to be intimidating!" - Hector

"I'm about as strong as a damn chihuahua, how the hell am I supposed to be intimidating?" - Erik

Hector and Erik soon grabbed two guards who were trying to get into the dog-pile where the bloody shard of wood was and hauled them towards the secret tunnel, shouting orders at them.

"Let us go!" One guard yelled

"Yeah you're not the king anymore!" The other yelled

"Actually, I still AM the king here, and I order you to open up the gates right now!" Hector demanded, using his authority as king while he still had it

"Or what?" One guard asked, skeptical of Hector's claim to power

Hector took a moment to improvise again. "I'll make you both the head of the guard for the next king if you open the doors, and your payment and benefits will reflect your new positions... All you have to do is open up the gates real quick."

"Yeah! So go open the doors... Or else!" Erik added, trying to make the meanest, scariest face he possibly could. He ended up though only making himself look severely constipated, and neither of the guards were intimidated by him at all.

The thought of a guaranteed pay raise for the next king though swayed both guards to obey Hector, and they both quickly bolted down the secret passageway to open up the gates leading out of Heilios. They only had a slim chance at becoming the next King, but they were now basically guaranteed at getting better pay if they opened the gates real quick... Or so they were told.

"That should do the trick. Come on lets get out of here!" Hector said to Erik, leading him back towards the doors of the tunnel.

The guards fighting for the bloody shard of wood increased as someone who somehow got the shard of wood fumbled it away, causing a stampede to take form as guards kept inadvertently kicking it further away from the original scuffle.

The doors going outside of Heilios began to creak open very slowly, the wind and blizzard outside began to pour into the tunnel, preventing Hector and Erik from slipping through the doors. As the doors widened further, the burst of wind died down to the point that Hector and Erik could now slip through to freedom.

In their way stood Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Sven, and even Sam. All of them dumbfounded at being face to face with Erik.

"Wow that was easier than I thought!" Olaf said. "Now we just have to kill Julius"

"Erik! Oh my god! How did you escape?" - Elsa

"Long story, but Julius is dead and we're free, lets get out of here!" - Erik

"Wow we are really good at saving people!" - Olaf

"Wait, who's he?" Anna asked, motioning towards Hector

"He's my older brother. It's okay though he was the one who killed Julius" - Erik

"Hi I'm Hector" - Hector introduced himself

"Guys his hand is cut up pretty bad we need to get back to the ship!" Kristoff yelled over the roaring winds outside.

"Come on then lets go!" - Anna

Everyone then turned to back towards the harbor, except for Elsa, who physically couldn't.

She was restrained by Erik hugging her.

(Cue soft romantic music)

The hug lasted a second and a half but it felt like it lasted much longer. Erik was so overjoyed at seeing Elsa again that he returned the affection Elsa had shown him the first time they accidentally ran into each other while running for their lives. Erik's arms wrapped around Elsa's back, and his arms ran up towards the back of Elsa's shoulders. Elsa didn't hug back, but only because she was too surprised at what was happening in the first place to know what was even going on.

Before Elsa could react, Erik broke off from the hug and rested both of his hands on her shoulders, staring deep into her eyes. Erik could see how surprised Elsa was, but Elsa only saw how thankful and happy Erik was.

They both paused, almost frozen in place, as time began to slow down.

(romantic music grows louder but remains soft)

Neither of them had ever stood so close to each other, there was only about a foot separating them. Neither of them had ever experienced such an intimate moment before with someone of the opposite sex either. They could only stare into each other's eyes as the wind whipped all around them, even the whirling winds of the blizzard they were standing in and the yelling of the guards fighting for the bloody wooden shard felt like they were growing softer

Seconds felt like they turned into minutes as Elsa became lost in Erik's blue eyes, she could even see her own reflection in them he was standing so close to her. The wind brushed back his hair the same way that a war hero's hair is brushed by the wind after winning a battle.

"Thank you for coming back for me" Erik said, infatuated at seeing Elsa again.

(romantic music grows louder, brace for it)

Elsa braced for what she thought was coming next. If this was the place where Erik was going to demonstrate how thankful he was for Elsa coming back to save him, the conditions were pretty perfect. Elsa got nervous, and her heartbeat kicked into high gear as she anticipated what was going to happen next. She would listen to Anna's stories about Kristoff kissing her in romantic settings over and over again back in Arendelle, and Anna spared no expense at explaining every detail about how how she felt and how it happened every time. Anna would go on and on about how she felt and what the conditions were like when she and Kristoff smooched, and Elsa would just smile and listen to Anna's gossiping. Now though, the situation between her and Erik mirrored the exact types of situations that Anna had with Kristoff where they ended up kissing.

Elsa was nervous, as everyone is the first time, and her mind was going a mile a minute. _Was she ready for it? Was she okay with it? Was she NOT okay with it? He is cute, and tall enough. But does she love him? Or does she just like him? Does she even like him?_ In the split seconds that Elsa was standing there with Erik, she had more thoughts going through her head than ever before, to the point that she would get a headache in no time

(Romantic music now at full volume)

Elsa, indecisive, was both ready and not ready for what was coming next, and the only thing she could do was brace herself. She looked into Erik's eyes, only a second had passed the entire time she was thinking all of these things to herself, and arriving at no conclusion for how to handle the situation, Elsa let Erik make the move.

Erik smiled "Come on lets get out of here!"

(Romantic music abruptly cuts off)

Elsa was caught off guard. "Wait what?"

"Come on we gotta go!" Erik said gleefully. Still smiling at seeing her again, he tugged at Elsa's arm and led her away from Heilios towards the harbor, Anna, Kristoff, and everyone else only a little ways ahead of them. Elsa snapped back into reality as she began running with him as the whirling blizzard around them soon drowned out the rest of her thoughts.

As she kept up with Erik as they ran towards the ship, Elsa couldn't help but wonder if Erik did the right thing, or if he missed the chance to do the right thing. Was he supposed to kiss her, or was he not supposed to?... Wait, was she supposed to kiss him?

_Come on Elsa, get it together..._ She thought to herself. She didn't quite know what her feelings towards Erik were, but she decided to stuff them deep down inside herself and try to not ever think about it again for a very long time, hopefully never. They all still had to get away from Heilios as quickly as they could, because Erik knew that once some lucky guard managed to get the shard of wood with Hector's blood on it, they would try to bolt after them to claim his prize. And all the other guards will follow him feverishly trying to become the next king themselves.


	19. Chapter 18

Thanks to everyone again for reading and reviewing! I know it must be really hard and borderline infuriating to keep up with a story that only gets updated once a month, but I assure you that if my work ethic was better than it is right now I would be updating this on a weekly basis. I'm not torturing you all on purpose. We're almost to the end though so don't worry, we've got only two more chapters to go!

* * *

After what could only be described as a frantic and chaotic stampede towards the ship through the ever-raging blizzard, everyone was fortunate enough to make it to the ship without losing their way, even though Olaf almost got carried away by the wind itself on two different occasions. Everyone once again hustled below the deck as sailors outside rapidly tried to clear the deck from enough snow so that the ship could set sail as soon as possible.

"Is everyone alright?" Kristoff asked, everyone else besides Hector and Erik still out of breath and nearly frozen from having to sprint through the blizzard outside for the fourth time.

"I could... I could use a nap" Olaf stuttered. "For... Forever... For forever" He added.

"I am NOT going outside again if that's alright with everyone" Anna said, trying to shake bits of snow out of her hair.

"Same here" Kristoff echoed

"When you came back for us" Erik panted. "How did you plan on actually getting through the doors exactly?"

Sam, looking more like a hedgehog than a squirrel on account of the icicles on her back, answered the question "We didn't have a 'plan'... We basically just charged at the mountain like a bunch of hooligans hoping for something to happen when you guys opened the doors for us"

"I yold you that it would work!" - Olaf

"It SHOULDN'T have worked!" - Sam

"But it DID so HA!" - Olaf. "Whose the 'brainless pile of snow' now hmmmmm?" He grinned, quoting Sam's insult from before.

"You don't want me to answer that question, trust me" Sam retorted

"So who is... Who is he again?" Anna asked, motioning towards Hector while still trying to catch her breath.

"Hector... He's my older brother who I didn't know that I had" Erik explained. "Don't worry he's not here to try to kill me."

"Right... Okay cool" Anna said in rapid response.

"Nice to meet you all. You had some great timing with that rescue by the way..." - Hector. "I didn't think you guys would have come back for us"

"Neither did I" - Sam

"We could never unanimously vote to leave you behind or anything suspicious like that!" Olaf said with a fabricated smile

Elsa, trying to regulate her breathing so that the pain in her side would subside, finally spoke up. "The soldiers should have enough snow cleared for us to cast off in a few minutes." She began. "I'll go out and help them real quick because the sooner we get out of here, the better."

Everyone nodded, and Elsa made her way out the door.

"Wait, Elsa" Erik said, putting his hand gingerly around Elsa's arm as she tried to walk past him.

She turned around and the two locked eyes once again.

"Thank you. Again. Thank you for coming back for me" Erik said with a smile, before letting her arm go.

Elsa gave a quick nod and a smile. "Sure thing..." She then made her way out the door onto the deck of the ship, Erik not taking his eyes off of her as she walked out.

* * *

(Later that night)

Everyone on board felt safe for the first time in quite a long time, particularly Erik, who was now free from the fear of any impending attempts on his life from his former older brothers, who were now dead back in Heilios. He desperately wanted to talk with Hector about how he kept his cover for so long, among other things, but Hector insisted that Erik try to get some sleep. Even during dinner, when Hector was badgered with questions about his past, he remained rather quiet, too busy enjoying a sizable dinner that was a heavenly improvement compared to to what he used to eat as a dinner as a lowly guard back in Heilios. Erik as well dug into the lavish dinner laid out on the table in front of them, both he and Hector let Anna dominate the conversation at the table with stories of her adventures on her own and with Kristoff. After dinner Hector opted to explore the ship they all were on to 'marvel at its size' as he put it, while Erik decided to hang out with Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven before he had to go back to his stable below deck for the night.

As the ship raced to put as much distance between itself and Heilios as possible, everyone began to settle in for the night. Sam, Elsa, and Anna retired to their quarters for the night, while Erik slept in the same room as Kristoff and Olaf. Hector though insisted that he sleep in a small storage room across the hall on his own, which was a weird request, but everyone else was so mentally and physically exhausted from the day they had that no one was willing to protest, so they let him do what he wanted.

"Just a heads up, Olaf snores like someone is sawing through a tree" Kristoff told Erik

"No I dont!" Olaf protested. "When Im asleep I don't hear anything!"

"That's because you are ASLEEP" - Kristoff

"Hey so I never asked this before, but how are you alive exactly?" Erik asked Olaf, getting his makeshift bed of straw and unused blankets ready.

"Elsa created me with her magic and love and lack of foresight" - Olaf

"Lack of what?" - Erik

"Olaf was kind of created on accident, not on purpose" Kristoff explained. "Elsa didn't even know that Olaf was alive until he barged into her ice castle screaming that he likes warm hugs..."

"Ice castle?" - Erik

"Yeah, Elsa made a whole castle high up on the North Mountain out of ice using only her magic!" - Olaf

"Its currently inhabited by a giant snow guard she also made with magic and about 300 hundred snowgies Elsa made that one time she caught a cold..." Kristoff added

"Wow..." Erik paused. "That... That sounds pretty amazing actually."

"Yeah it was amazing... The castle was amazing I mean, the snowgies I could have done without..." - Kristoff

"You're going to have to explain to me what a 'snowgie' is, I'm a little confused." - Erik

"Maybe some other time" Kristoff said, settling into his bed for the night.

"So Elsa can make giant castle of ice and also make snow minions as well, and stuff..." Erik began. "What else can she do? Apart from create ice blasts and all that?"

"OH! She can make dresses and stuff with her magic as well!" - Olaf added. "She even made outfits for me and Kristoff for the wedding!"

"Wedding?" Erik said, surprised... "You mean that you two are... You two are a thing?"

"What NO, no, NO WE ARE NOT" Kristoff said, sitting up from his bed and panicking. "I'm marrying Anna... Not Olaf, ANNA."

"OOOOH" Erik realized. "Okay... Okay good, cause... Yeah, marrying a snowman is... That would be a new one"

"Yeah, I'm marrying Anna. Not Olaf. Anna." Kristoff said, calming down and settling back into his bed.

"What can Anna do for you that I can't?" - Olaf asked, offended at how vehement Kristoff was in denying that he and Olaf were the ones getting married

"Anna can do LOTS of things for me that you can't" - Kristoff

"Like what?" - Olaf

Kristoff snickered "I'll tell ya some other time"

Olaf grumbled.

"Goodnight guys" Erik said as he got cozy in his own bed. Erik dozed off right away, and Kristoff did soon after wards, sparing himself from Olaf's comically loud snoring.

* * *

Elsa and Anna had changed into their nightgowns and Sam had managed to chip away the last of the icicles on her back, finally resembling a squirrel than some kind of ice-hedgehog.

Anna threw herself onto her bed as if it was waiting for her with open arms... "Ahhhhhh, I missed you. I missed you so much... Why did I ever leave you"

Sam looked up at Elsa. "Does she talk to her bed a lot?"

"Only when she's had a long day and can't wait to go to sleep" - Elsa replied, playing with her hair in the mirror before getting in bed herself. She still wasn't used to it being so short, but she was quickly growing fond of it.

"And MAN did we have a long day" Anna remarked, already half asleep

"I still can't believe that plan somehow worked..." - Sam said, still bitter about all of them going against her plan. "Next time we choose between rescuing someone and leaving them behind, I still vote we leave them behind."

"Oh don't be so bitter." - Anna

"Erik went to great lengths to help us and what he did is the reason why we can go back to Arendelle and live our lives the way we want... We owed it to him to go back for him" - Elsa

"You wanted to go back for him just because you think he's hot, admit it" Sam said, trying to push some of Elsa's buttons.

Elsa scoffed at the remark. "I did NOT."

"Yes you did... I saw how you two were together outside the doors when we rescued him."

"Wait what?" Anna said, her interest piqued. "What do you mean they were 'together'?..."

"It was nothing. Trust me." - Elsa

"Oh they were together alright... The two of them hugged and then they stared into each others eyes before I kept running through that blizzard... I know what happened next" - Sam

"We DIDN'T KISS" - Elsa

"I never said that you did" Sam said with a wink

"DID YOU KISS ERIK?" - Anna almost screamed, bolting up out of her bed incredulous.

"SHHHHHHH! Keep your voices down!" Elsa said, growing slightly irritated. "No, we did not kiss... I thought he might try to kiss me but instead he just said 'thanks for saving me' and then that was it."

Elsa, in a huff, got down in her bed and quickly tried to go to sleep. Sam was pleased in getting under Elsa's skin, but Anna, the master in detecting body language, knew that Elsa was visibly upset. It wasn't because of what Sam said though, it was something else.

Acting on a hunch, Anna remained seated on her bed rather than settle into it, and carefully tried to get more info out of Elsa. She ahd to tread carefully though, she could tell this was a sensitive topic to Elsa. "So he hugged you was all he did?"

"Yep" Elsa snapped. The anger in her voice better clued Anna in to what Elsa was mad about. Elsa was either upset because Erik hugged her, (unlikely), or because Erik ONLY hugged her, which was far more likely.

Anna hesitated in what to say next, trying to be careful and get Elsa to spill the beans.

"So then nothing did happen in that moment you had together." - Anna

"Thats what I'm saying..." - Elsa said, still annoyed.

Anna knew she couldn't coax Elsa into admitting it on her own, so she was just going to have to flat out ask her.

"Is that all you wanted to happen?" Anna asked

Elsa rolled over in her bed to face Anna. "What are you talking about?" She asked, still angry but almost suspicious of what Anna was getting at.

"Well you're not mad that Erik hugged you and thank you, right?" - Anna

"Right" - Elsa

"So, are you mad that he ONLY hugged you and thanked you?" - Anna

"I'm not mad" Elsa replied, turning to her other side and trying to shut down the conversation.

Anna exchanged glances with Sam, and even Sam knew that something was up, raising up her hands in a classic 'I don't know' gesture.

Thinking carefully, Anna decided to try a different route. Rather then try to get the confession out of Elsa, maybe she could guilt-trip her into spilling the beans.

"Elsa... I'm your sister. I tell you all about the stuff that happens with me and Kristoff and how I feel about it, you can talk to me about how you feel to"

Elsa's sour mood softened, as she weighed Anna's words. Anna was more than open with her about her feelings about Kristoff and even asked Elsa for advice every now and then, it was at least fair that Elsa be open to Anna as well. Shutting people out wasn't what she wanted to do anymore, and that meant being open even about stuff she would rather not talk about.

Elsa rolled back over in her bed to face Anna. Anna wore half a smile on her face and patiently sat in her bed waiting for Elsa to open up.

Elsa relented.

"I was expecting... Something else to happen..." She admitted.

"A kiss..." - Anna

Elsa sighed. "Yes, I was expecting him to kiss me" - Elsa

Anna began channeling her inner psychologist "And how did that make you feel?"

"I don't know" - Elsa

"You don't know? Well did you want him to kiss you or not?" Sam asked, confused as she was settling in at the end of Elsa's bed for the night.

Elsa sat up. "Look to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what my feelings towards Erik are. I've only known him for a day"

"Do you think he's cute?" - Anna

Elsa paused, thinking carefully about what she was going to say next.

"Yes. Yes I'll give him that. He is very cute." She tried to fight blushing but it didn't work.

"You just don't know if you're in love with him?" Anna guessed.

"Exactly!" Elsa said, relieved that Anna and Sam were starting to get it. "I find him attractive but I'm not, you know, 'in love' with him..."

"Sorry I'm still confused. Did you want him to kiss you during that moment or not?" - Sam asked

Anna tried to explain. "She was expecting she would be kissed but she wasn't, which I think is what the problem is"

"Well wait if you aren't in love with the guy then why are you mad that he didn't kiss you right then?" - Sam

"It's not that I'm not in love with him, it's that I don't KNOW if i'm in love with him" Elsa clarified.

"... What?" - Sam asked

Elsa turned to Sam. "When you were human, way back when, didn't you ever fantasize about being kissed by a guy even if you weren't in love with them?" She asked

Sam shook her head. "I was turned into a squirrel before I even wanted to do any of that kind of stuff..." She clarified

"Wait... So you never had to go through puberty and everything associated with it?" - Elsa asked

"Nope" - Sam

Anna angrily squinted at Sam. "You lucky little-" She whispered

"I hate to sound like a real tom-boy, or tom-squirrel here..." Sam began, cutting off Anna. "But it sounds to me that if you don't know you like the guy then you shouldn't be mad that he didn't kiss you, or whatever."

"It doesn't work that way" - Anna

"Well then how DOES it work cause I'm confused as hell here" - Sam

Elsa turned to Anna. "How did you know that you loved Kristoff?" She asked. "What made it clear and when did you realize it?"

Anna, suddenly put on the spot, was caught off guard. She loved Kristoff to no end, even when he smells like reindeer excrement because he slept in the stables for the night, but she never had to think about when was the exact moment she realized she had fallen in love with Kristoff.

"Ummmm" She started. "When I first knew I was in love with him?" Anna asked, making sure she knew the question.

Elsa nodded.

Anna thought long and hard about the question, while Sam and Elsa patiently waited. Anna's eyes darted back and forth between different objects as she recalled every little memory she had with Kristoff, asking herself each time whether she was in love with Kristoff at the time of each memory.

It was only after a very long period of silence did she finally realize when that moment was.

"Remember when I asked you to help me get Kristoff a new sled? After it had gotten destroyed and he really needed a new one?" Anna asked Elsa, who immediately remembered.

"Yeah. You asked for me to get him a sled and you wanted me to make him the official 'ice-master and delieverer' or something" Elsa recalled.

"Is that even a real position?" Sam asked

Elsa shook her head.

"When I presented him the sled, he was overjoyed. He picked me up and whirled me around in the air like it was nothing, and then said 'I could kiss you right now'..." - Anna

"And he did then, right?" - Sam

"Well... No, actually." Anna explained to Sam. Elsa had already heard this story, but Sam hadn't. "Right after he said that he kind of backtracked and stumbled over himself, thinking that what he said was out of line or inappropriate."

"Pfft. Idiot..." - Sam

Elsa shot Sam a dirty look.

"Kristoff didn't know what to do after he said that, so, I gave him a slight peck on the cheek and told him that he could kiss me if he really wanted to. And then he did." Anna said with a smile, dwelling on the memory.

"And that was when you realized that you were in love with Kristoff then? When he kissed you that first time?" - Elsa asked

Anna turned back to Elsa and nodded. "That's what made it clear for me"

"Okay then, case closed. Goodnight!" Sam said, curling up in a ball and getting ready to doze off.

"No, it's not 'case closed' yet" - Elsa

Sam unwound. "What do you mean? What's the problem?"

Elsa sighed. "I didn't get my kiss the way that Anna got hers, so now I won't ever know if I am in love with Erik or just find him attractive..."

"Well what do you mean 'You'll never know', you just have to wait until he kisses you and then you'll find out, right?" - Sam

Anna shook her head. "It's not that simple."

"Why not?" - Sam

"You can't just kiss someone and then everything makes sense. There needs to be a moment... A moment when the kiss happens that makes everything 'perfect'." Anna explained. "If you don't have that moment, then the kiss doesn't become as meaningful..."

Sam shook her head in hopeless confusion. "What in the hell is a 'moment'?"

"A moment is when the circumstances to kiss someone are perfect. Like, a moment to kiss someone is during a slow dance you with them, or when you're out at night alone staring at the stars... Or when you just saved their life." - Elsa

"WAIT..." Sam said, realizing it. "Wait wait wait... So after we had just rescued Erik and his brother and you two were standing together outside the doors of Heilios... That qualified as a 'moment'?"

Elsa and Anna nodded.

"Ohhhhh Okay I think I get it now..." - Sam. "Why can't you just wait until you get another moment, see if he kisses you then, and figure out if you love him or not?"

"Because moments like the one Elsa and Erik had don't happen that often..." Anna explained. "Some people who are attracted to others never get a 'moment' to truly find out if they are in love with each other in the first place. To get a moment with someone the first time is already hard enough, getting a second moment or a second chance is very rare, and may not ever happen."

"Hence my problem" Elsa said, slouching into her covers in defeat. "I may have missed the one and only chance I'll get to find out what my feelings are towards Eric."

Now that everyone was on the same page, no one knew what else to say. There wasn't any hope or assurance that they could offer to Elsa to convince her that she would get her second 'moment'. Apart from saying goodnight to each other, no one said another word, and each of them tried to get some sleep

* * *

As Erik slept, dreaming that his teeth were falling out of his mouth for some reason, Hector quietly but quickly made his way over towards Erik in an panic. He shook him awake.

"Erik!" Hector whispered, not trying to wake up Kristoff or Olaf. "Erik wake up! We have a problem..."

Erik cracked open his eyes in a daze, not sure what was going on. "What? What happened?" Was all he could mutter

"Get up, I think we are in grave danger. Get up!" Hector quietly pleaded.

Erik sat upright from his makeshift bed and rubbed his eyes, still not processing what Hector was telling him.

"What happened?" - Erik

"Shhhh! Keep your voice down. We have a huge problem... I think" - Hector

"What's the problem?" Erik whispered

"I think we're being followed" - Hector

"Followed?" - Erik. "By who?"

"I don't know, but I need someone to make sure that we are being followed because my eyes might be playing tricks on me. Now come on!" Hector replied, nervously, motioning for Erik to follow him out the door.

Erik got up from his bed, still whispering. "Shouldn't we wake up Kristoff and the others first?"

Hector shook his head. "Im not completely sure we're being followed, and there's no use in waking up everyone just yet. Now hurry up!" Hector demanded.

Erik put on his shoes and frantically tried to follow Hector out the door and do so quietly. However, while Erik was hopping around on one foot trying to get his other shoe on, he stumbled into a picture on wall, knocking it to the floor and causing the frame to shatter in a million pieces.

Kristoff grunted before rolled over onto his side, and Olaf loudly snored on. Neither of them woke up, but it was a close call.

"Okay lets NOT do that again, okay?" Hector angrily whispered, growing very impatient with Erik. Erik apologized, slipped on his other boot, and quickly followed Hector out onto the deck of the ship. It was cold outside, but the moon and the millions of stars overhead illuminated the night sky.

Hector quietly led Erik towards the back of the ship. "Stay low, and keep quiet so that they don't know that we are onto them." Hector whispered to Erik.

"Who is 'they'? I don't see anyone out there" Erik responded, scanning the horizons and seeing only empty seas.

"They're not over there, they're this way. Here, look" Hector said, leading Erik to the very back of the ship.

Erik looked out on the horizon behind the ship. The wake of the ship rippling the sea beneath them as little bunches of ice were churned up in the wake. Had they waited maybe a day or two longer in Heilios, the harbor would have froze over and they might have been trapped there. Erik though scanned the horizons looking for anyone pursuing them. Erik couldn't see anything out of the ordinary though. The sea looked empty all the way back to the mountains on the horizon. Mt. Khan was still in view.

"See that? Right there?" Hector asked, pointing off towards the horizon.

"I don't see anything" Erik responded, squinting his eyes.

"Here, stand where I am. Look from my position." - Hector

Hector backed up on the walkway to allow Erik to slide into where he was previously standing. The walkway they were on was not part of the main deck itself, it was something that wrapped around the backside of the ship near water level to allow for soldiers to keep watch, and to make it easier for sailors to reel in fish. The walkway was only just wide enough for 2 people.

Erik looked at the horizon where Hector was standing before. "I still don't see anything." - Erik

"Are you sure? Are you looking towards Mt. Khan? Look as hard as you can" Hector asked from right behind him.

Erik focused as hard as he could towards Mt. Khan, looking for anything that looked like a pursuing ship. He didn't see anything and kept wondering who could be following them. _Why would anyone be following them? Were they from Heilios? If it wasn't then who else could it be? It had to be someone from Heilios_

But then Erik remembered something. He recalled very clearly that Heilios doesn't HAVE any boats for them to pursue someone at sea. There were no trees in Heilios to begin with to construct boats, no nations traded with Heilios for their ships to be commandeered, nobody from Heilios even knew HOW to steer a ship, and Erik explicitly remembered that there weren't any other ships in the harbor when they boarded Elsa's ship and fled.

This simply wasn't adding up.

"I dont see any-"

Erik was cut off. Hector, who was using one arm to keep Erik from falling overboard, used his other arm to take a knife that he had smuggled out of Heilios, and plunged it into Erik's side as hard as he could. Before Erik could yell out in pain, Hector's other arm slid up over Erik's mouth, muffling him and keeping him quiet.

"Did you really think that we were being pursued?... Are you really that stupid?" Hector whispered in Erik's ear, keeping him restrained. He sent the knife deeper into Erik's side, keeping him muffled so that no one would hear him cry out in pain. "Killing you was far easier than I imagined it would be..."


	20. Chapter 19

Erik wrestled away Hector's hand covering his mouth. "What are you doing!?" The pain in his side was so sharp that he could only speak through gritted teeth

"I'm putting an end to this, once and for all" Hector said, yanking the knife out of Erik.

"What are you talking about, I haven't even done anything!"

"Liar!" Hector retorted, raising the knife. "I'm not going to let anyone else get hurt by you, me, or anyone else from Heilios"

"Wait..." - Erik "What do you mean by 'you'?"

Hector didn't answer, and instead did the unthinkable, and plunged the knife deep into his OWN leg.

"Are you MAD?" Erik asked, stunned in disbelief. Hector had just stabbed himself in his own leg!

Hector held the knife in place, trying to stay standing upright and not cry out in pain.

"I know exactly what I'm doing..." He muttered "I'm doing what I have to do to end our bloodline once and for all"

"By killing us _BOTH_?" - Erik

"Do you know what our last name means?... Do you know what 'Brodermord' translates to?" - Hector

Erik was too confused by what Hector was doing and talking about to call out for help, and instead insisted on trying to wriggle himself free.

Hector kept him restrained and continued anyways. "Broder is ancient Swedish for 'Brother', and Mord is ancient Nordic for 'Murder'... Our last name literally translates to 'Kill one's brother'... It's in our very bloodline to try to kill each other!"

Erik continued to try to free himself. "So what? We can break tradition and live in peace! Just you and me!" he begged.

Hector had none of it and shook his head. "I thought that too, once... I was the oldest brother, and I watched Julius grow up, thinking he would be different, but he wasn't... Then I watched Tyrus grow up, thinking he would be different, but he wasn't... And then I watched you grow up, and I doubt you'll be any different either..."

Hector was too strong for Erik to break free, even with both of them wounded. Erik tried reasoning with him, fearing that calling out for help would just prompt Hector to kill him quicker. He had to stall... "If you were going to end our entire bloodline, then why didn't you do it sooner...? Why did you wait until now, after we had escaped from Heilios?"

Hector sunk the knife back into his side, covering up his mouth again to mute his screams.

"i JUST EXPLAINED that!" Hector hissed. "I waited hoping that one of us would turn out different, hoping that one of us would break the curse of our bloodline and NOT try to kill each other... But I saw everything I needed to see a long time ago, and realized there was no hope for any of us, but I had no means of killing all three of you at once... Then, Julius killed Tyrus, and I killed Julius, leaving just me and you..."

"Hector please!" Erik pleaded. "I'm not like them! I've never been like them, and I've lived my entire life to try to NOT be like them!"

"It doesn't matter Erik... You may not have shown your true colors yet, but you will sooner or later, everyone else already has... And I'm NOT going to let you drag another family into this!..." - Hector

"Another family?... You mean Elsa and Anna?" - Erik

"That's exactly who I mean!... I see how you look at her, and I see how she looks at you" Hector replied. "They are living happy lives in a peaceful country, I'm not going to let either of us drag their family and their kingdom under our curse and start killing one another!"

"We're not actually cursed though! Rulers of Heilios have been killing each other's relatives for centuries, regardless of bloodline!" - Erik tried to reason

"Do you think I'm going to risk letting you do the same to Arendelle when you marry Elsa and become King?" - Hector

"Marry her? I've known her for all of TWO DAYS, aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?... You can't marry someone you just met!" - Erik

"I've lived long enough to know what's going to happen, and I know that neither of us are going to get out of this alive" Hector said, yanking the knife out of Erik's side and raising it above his own head once again.

"FREEZE!"

Hector whipped around to see who had discovered him. He had spent too much time monologuing, and had run out of time

"Elsa!" - Erik

Elsa stood on the narrow walkway around the ship, one foot in front of another, in a defensive position. "Let him go!" She demanded

Hector danced around behind Erik and used him as a human shield. "How did you find us?" He asked, bewildered at being discovered. "How did you know we were here?"

"I heard someone knock down something in the ship, so I got up and went to investigate..." Elsa explained.

"Oh, it was probably that picture I bumped into and knocked off the wall!" Erik realized

"You and your goddamn clumsiness!" Hector seethed, holding the knife up to Erik's throat. "You aways were a klutzy little sh-"

"Let him go!" Elsa demanded a second time. Anna whipped around the corner behind her, gasping at what she saw.

"Let him go?... Pfft, or what?" Hector asked, scoffing at her demand.

"Or I'll blast you off the ship" - Elsa

"HA!" Hector laughed. "And what makes you I'm scared of dying exactly?"

"Elsa! He's planning to kill both of us! He wants to kill me and than kill himself to end our bloodline!" Erik explained.

"...Wait, what?" Elsa asked, caught off guard.

Hector wrapped an arm around Erik's neck to restrain him, raising the knife in his other hand up near Erik's eye. Erik kept going. "He wants to kill me and then kill himself! Look at the wound on his leg!"

Elsa and Anna looked at Hector's leg, and saw that it was indeed gashed open by the knife he was holding in his own hand.

"You see Elsa? I do not fear death! I'm going to kill Erik, and then I'm going to kill myself, and end our cursed bloodline once and for all!"

"Oh my God, you're crazier than Hans!" - Anna

"Who's Hans?" - Erik

"Long story..." - Anna

"What do you plan on doing Elsa, are you going to try to kill me?" Hector laughed. "Remember when you had the chance to kill Julius, back in Heilios, but you couldn't bring yourself to do it?..."

Elsa was caught off guard once again. _He knows she can't bring herself to kill someone!_

"I was there! Remember?..." Hector added. "I was standing right next to Julius and watched as Erik here begged you to take out Julius, but you couldn't do it!... Now you expect me to believe you'll kill me, with Erik here being my handy human shield?"

Anna turned to Elsa and kept her voice to a whisper. "Elsa, you CAN do this, I know you can"

"I might hit Erik!" Elsa protested.

Hector didn't notice, and instead began backing up towards the corner of the railing where it bent around to the other side of the ship. "You see Elsa, if you try to blast me, You'll succeed in knocking me off the ship, but I'll be taking Erik here with me, which would kill us both since neither of us can swim, and the water would be too cold for us to survive as well!"

"What do you want?" Elsa asked, looking for another option.

"What do I want? I want Erik to DIE" Hector responded. "And after that, I want to die after him, and end our curse once and for all!"

"Then what are you waiting for?" Erik asked, thinking that Hector might be bluffing, since he hadn't done it yet.

"I want to see what Elsa does now..." Hector explained. "I know she can't stop me, but I want to see if Elsa can bring herself to do it... To try to kill someone... To take the life of another person"

Anna whispered to Elsa again. "Do you have a clear shot?"

Elsa shook her head. She didn't even know if she could bring herself to blast Hector even if she DID have a clear shot.

"So what's it going to be Elsa? Are you going to let me kill Erik, or are you going to try to stop me?..." - Hector

"Just let him go!" - Elsa demanded, her voice cracking a little. The situation was escalating quickly, and if she didn't do something, than people were going to be killed.

"What is your answer? Kill, or stand by and watch someone die?"

"Elsa!" Erik called out, all eyes turning on him. He and Elsa locked eyes once again, as they had done several times in the past already, but this time there was no joy or happiness in the connection... Elsa was wracked with fear and panic, ice sliding into her hands which were quivering, and her eyes were tearing up in the corners as she struggled to decide what to do. Erik's eyes were still, filled with only with worry. Worried not about his own sake though, he was worried what might happen to Elsa.

"Elsa... In my entire life in Heilios, I've seen terrible things." Erik began. "I've seen my brothers kill others... I've seen my brothers tried to kill me... I've seen people suffer, evil triumph, my father be killed, I've seen everything that nobody should ever have to see... I don't want you to see what happens next..."

"Erik don't say that! It'll be okay! Everything is going to be okay" Elsa said, trying to reassure herself more than Erik.

Erik shook his head. "If you blast him, I'll probably die... And ff you don't, Hector will kill me anyways... I think I'm at the end of my rope here, but there's no reason you have to watch what happens next Elsa... You don't want to have to carry around a memory like that for the rest of your life, trust me..."

A tear ran down Elsa's cheek. Erik had given up, yet despite being near his moment of death, he was still more concerned of Elsa's well being more than his own. It was almost as if he didn't think his own life was worth anything.

But it was worth _everything_ to Elsa.

"Aww, how touching" Hector said, gripping the knife hard in his hand, still aimed at Erik's eye. "If it's any consolation, I'll make sure to make it quick and painless..."

"DON'T HURT HIM!" Elsa pleaded. "I'm not losing him!... I'm not going to lose anyone else!"

"Elsa close your eyes!" - Erik

Hector had seen enough. "YOUR TIME IS UP ELSA. NOW WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE? IT'S YOUR CHOICE, NOW CHOOSE!"

He raised the knife high over his head. Erik closed his eyes and braced himself.

Elsa closed her eyes as well.

Her time was up, and Elsa was out of options. She couldn't bring herself to take a life, but she also couldn't just stand by and let someone else be killed, someone she cared about... The ice that was building up in her veins was reaching critical mass, and fearing all hope was lost, she thrusted both of her hands out in front of her, releasing a blast of ice in the general direction of Hector... In the general direction of Erik.


	21. Chapter 20: The End

Twelve days had passed. The ice blast Elsa had fired struck Erik and Hector, Hector getting the worst of it, but Erik still getting hit pretty badly. Shards of ice drilled him in the right shoulder and most of his right arm, but luckily the ice that got him in the head was blunt, only knocking out upon impact. Hector was far more unfortunate, sharp shards of ice hitting him square in the jaw, neck, and shoulder, and hitting him with such force that it knocked him overboard...

As Hector went overboard though, he dragged Erik in with him, doing everything he could to kill the bloodline. Erik's unconscious body translated straight into dead-weight that a heavily injured Hector struggled to move though, causing a brief delay in either of them actually falling into the sea below. The delay gave Elsa and Anna just enough time to run over to have a shot at saving Erik by pulling him to safety, but they failed. Hector dragged Erik overboard into the waters below.

Elsa though, reaching out her hands in desperation to try to grab Erik, inadvertently fired off another blast of ice in the process. It was this accidental blast that proved to be a lifesaver. The blast of ice froze the ocean surface just as Erik entered the water, essentially catching him when he was halfway into the water, and keeping him at the surface while Hector disappeared under the waves. Had Elsa been one second earlier, the ice sheet on the ocean would have been formed to early, only to then be broken into pieces by Erik falling into the water, leaving nothing to stop him from sinking and drowning. If Elsa instead was one second too late, Erik would have already completely entered the water. But because Elsa's blast was fired just at the right time, Erik was spared from slipping under the waves.

Not only that, the slab of ice that saved Erik was just big enough to also fuse to the side of the ship, allowing Erik to stay floating very close to the ship rather than drifting out of reach and freezing to death. This allowed Elsa and Anna, with assistance from Sam and Kristoff who had heard the commotion and came to assist, to hoist Erik back onto the ship as Hector disappeared.

Erik though was still in critical condition... He had lost a lot of blood from Hector's stabs with a knife, and also from punctures along his shoulder and arm from the initial ice blast that sent him and Hector overboard. Erik also had a really bad case of hypothermia from exposure to the freezing sea. Everything from the waist down, along with both of his hands and forearms, were cold to the touch and stained with strains of blue. The ship doctor feared that Erik only had a 30% chance to live, and that even if he did, he would lose a couple body parts to hypothermia.

* * *

Erik drifted in and out of consciousness after a week of no signs of improvement, giving everyone hope that he would recover. At first, he would only be conscious for a few seconds here and there, before slipping back into unconsciousness once again. As each day passed though he improved, staying conscious for a little while longer each time.

Then, on the 13th day, he finally woke up.

* * *

The first thing that Erik could make out was the wooden ceiling of the ship that was directly overhead. Hearing the faint sound of waves of the ship cut through the sea came next, but it didnt immediately register to Erik that he was on the ship heading back to Arendelle.

What preoccupied Erik the most was the extent of his injuries.

He had trouble feeling some of his toes and he could barely move his legs at all. He hadn't eaten in over a week so he naturally had any energy to begin with, but when he tried moving his arm and shoulder, searing pain enveloped him like nothing he had felt before... The bandages around his shoulder, arm, and legs made him look like a soldier wounded in battle.

He also looked down at where his right hand was meant to be, only to find that it wasn't there anymore... Instead there was a stump at the end of his forearm where his wrist was supposed to be.

Then Erik remembered everything. That he was on a ship, that Hector tried to kill him, that Hector then took him hostage in a standoff with Elsa... And that Elsa blasted them both.

He sat up in bed, grimacing in pain from his injuries and from how hungry he was. Spying some nuts and bread on a plate, along with a pitcher of water on a table nearby, Erik just about leapt out of bed for it, falling hard to the ground in the process.

It took him a minute to pull himself back together and crawl back into his bed, but despite still not being able to feel some of his toes, he overcame the pain. He wolfed down the bread and nuts before drinking almost the entire pitcher of water in one motion, feeling rejuvenated but extremely sore. He was still too weak to walk around very well, so he got comfortable in his bed and looked out the one window in the room.

Outside, the sun shined, the waves were crystal blue, and small houses dotted the base of mountains that rose out of the sea. The ship had gone almost all the way back to Arendelle while Erik was unconscious, but the sight of a clear blue sky was something he had never seen before. Erik had spent his entire life holed up in a mountain with no escape, and the weather in Heilios was a perpetual blizzard of white and grey, so Erik only ever heard rumors that the sky was blue from books he read. He even struggled at times to believe the sky could ever be blue, but he was blown away at how blue the skies were just outside his window right now. It was a truly breath-taking and captivating sight for someone who had never even seen a sunrise or a sunset before, or felt a gust of wind either.

Erik was so enthralled with the view from the window that he didn't even notice Anna walking into the room to check up on him.

She gasped. "You're awake!"

Erik didn't even respond, he didn't have enough time to take in the beautiful view outside to snap back into reality. Anna immediately ran to alert the others, giving Erik some time to fully take in the view in the meantime.

Kristoff was the next person to barge through the door, in disbelief at the news.

"Nice of you to finally wake up" Kristoff said in fake condescension

Erik turned to face him wearing a sheepish grin. "Sorry for sleeping in... How long was I... Dead?"

"You've been unconsious for roughly... 3 months now" - Kristoff

"Wait WHAT?" - Erik

"Kristoff we agreed we would not mess with Erik on how long he was out cold" Sam said, scurrying into the room next. "You were out for about 2 weeks"

"We also agreed that no magical talking animals or snowman would enter the room cause it might freak him out!" - Kristoff

"I remember that squirrels and snowmen can talk... Well at least some of them anyways..." Erik replied, defending Sam

"How do you feel?" - Kristoff

Erik looked over himself. "Well, I feel like hell to be honest..."

Kristoff nodded. "Yeah you got hit pretty bad in that whole incident... I almost thought you were 'gone' before I managed to pull you out of the water."

Erik: "What happened exactly? I don't remember anything after the blast from-"

Erik paused as Elsa rushed into the room.

Time came to a standstill in that room as Erik and Elsa got a good look at each other. Erik was enthralled seeing Elsa. She looked absolutely breathtaking as well. Now that they weren't in the perpetual winters of the far north, Elsa had changed out of her heavy clothing and went back to wearing her usual dresses, which were normal for her but were stunning to Erik. Elsa looked as pretty to Erik as the sights outside of his window, and for that moment, he was in heaven.

Elsa on the other hand was on a completely different page emotionally. Seeing Erik alive was all she was hoping to see for so long, but seeing him wounded while in his bandages was really hard for her to accept without feeling guilt. Elsa didn't see herself as Erik's savior nearly as much as Erik did, Elsa looked at Erik's wounds and saw herself more as someone who saved him, but at too great of a cost. Erik had lost his hand, he had lost some of his toes which is why he couldn't feel them, the doctor said his right shoulder and right arm may never fully recover, and Erik also had some scarring on his face from the blast that Erik hadn't seen yet. Yet despite all his injuries, Erik was smiling. His breathtakingly blue eyes wide open and his teeth flashing in a smile of genuine happiness to see her stood in stark contrast to how bad his other injuries were. Seeing Erik alive looked almost tragic rather than relieving, which caused Elsa to feel guilt at having been the one who blasted him. But as she looked more into his eyes, the feeling of indomitable guilt faded and was replaced with optimism and genuine happiness by finding forgiveness, to the point that she really struggled in fighting back tears.

"You look amazing" Erik said, trying to stand up out of bed and failing. Even Elsa's stunning looks to him couldn't overcome the severe pain in his body, and he folded back onto the bed. Kristoff and Elsa rushed to his side as Anna and Olaf entered, Sven the only one missing as he was still asleep in the stables on the other end of the ship.

"Is he awake?" Olaf asked

"Yes Olaf, I'm alive" Erik replied, only briefly taking his eyes off Elsa to respond to him

"Aww, I lost my bet..." - Olaf

"You made a BET that Erik would never wake up?" Anna asked, furious

"It seemed like a good bet to make" - Olaf

"Who were you betting against?" - Anna

Olaf removed one of his buttons, pulled out three gold coins from a little compartment carved into his body that was hidden behind the button... And handed them to Kristoff, who carefully pocketed them while avoiding eye contact with Anna...

Anna couldn't tell whose head she wanted to punt through the window more.

"So what exactly happened that night?" Erik asked again, mostly to Elsa but letting everyone answer.

They all took turns explaining what happened and what they saw from their point of view that night. Kristoff recalled how he yanked Erik out of the water, Anna took over in explaining his injuries and everything the ship's doctor said could have happened to him, and even Elsa gingerly talked about the blast that sent Erik and Hector into the water, feeling bad about it at first but being relieved at Erik laughing it off as if it was nothing. Elsa always hated doing any harm to anyone else, but Erik's entire history of abuse at the hands of his brothers made Elsa's act seem genuinely harmless in his view, which over time would help Elsa lose any guilt she had in his injuries. After recounting the incident, the ship's doctor himself, a man by the name of 'Taric', walked into the room and explained to Erik all of his injuries in a professional matter, making it crystal clear what he would feel in the short term and the long term, but also illustrating that with some help and physical therapy upon return to Arendelle, Erik could be expected to make a full recovery.

After the doctor left the room, Erik finally understood the severe scope of how difficult his next couple of months were going to be. He would not simply be able to one day wake up walk like normal like he hoped, it was going to be an arduous process filled with plenty of obstacles to overcome that may never be overcome either. Fortunately, Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Sam, and Sven would be there to support him, and that gave Erik enough hope he needed to look forward to the future with hope, rather than fear.

Kristoff took Olaf and Sam out of the room after they started arguing about what a doctor does with someone's toes after cutting them off, leaving Erik in he med-bay with Elsa and Anna.

"What's it like living in Arendelle?" Erik asked, eager to have a different home than what was his previous home in Heilios

"It's AMAZING! You're going to LOVE living in the castle with us there! The skies are blue most of the time, the people there are all friendly-" - Anna

"Wait, hang on, you don't _have_ to have me live in the castle with you guys if you don't want to, I could find somewhere else-" - Erik

"Nonono. You ARE living in the castle with us. That's final. No excuses. No exceptions. I won't allow otherwise" - Anna

"No really I dont have-" - Erik

"We would love for you to stay in the castle with us, we need to make sure you recover from your injuries anyways" Elsa reasoned.

"Yes! Yes that's also true" Anna added. "And you're also coming to my wedding to. It's going to be great, you'll love it! Kristoff also needs a groomsman with him that isn't a reindeer or a talking snowman... That might confuse people"

"Oh right you and Kristoff are getting married!" Erik remembered

"Yup. All you need to do is find a date" - Anna

"What?" Erik asked. Elsa was also caught off guard by the demand... "Okay, well, how much time would I have to find-" - Erik

"You must find a date right now. I need to know for the wedding. By the end of today. I'll leave you alone so you can think about who you are going to ask."

Anna then bolted out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Elsa and Erik alone together.

They looked at each other and chuckled.

"She's kinda forceful when it comes to getting what she wants, huh?" - Erik

"You'll get used to it after a while..." - Elsa

The two awkwardly sat in silence for a several seconds.

"Well I might not be able to dance very well by the time the wedding comes around..." Erik began, before pausing.

"I don't dance anyways" Elsa responded after the pause, inviting Erik to continue. They both loosened up a little.

"And I don't really have anything to wear either..." Erik added, giving an innocent smile  
"We'll find something for you to wear" Elsa replied, playing along with Erik's game.  
"And I know I kinda look bad after this pretty girl knocked me overboard..." - Erik  
"Pretty _lady_ you mean" Elsa responded, cringing a little at being called a 'girl' but still blushing at being called 'pretty'.  
"Sorry, pretty _lady_ I mean..." Erik corrected himself... "But despite all of my shortcomings and some of my flaws... Would you like to be my date to your sister's wedding?"

There was another pause this time as the two just smiled at each other. Neither of them had ever had an opportunity to just be young and carelessly in love before, so this was territory that was very unfamiliar to both of them but still wanted to enjoy. And now they were there, even though they were old enough to be adults and have to deal with adult responsibilities, deep down they were both still kids at heart who were just masquerading around as adults, and doing a decent job at it to despite everything in their past.

Elsa finally responded, blushing hard. "I would love to be your date for Anna's wedding"

Erik blushed to, still smiling. "Great! It's a date"

There was another awkward pause as both of them just sat still, enveloped in warm fuzzy feelings. Erik then decided to go for it all

"I'd lean in and kiss you on your cheek right now but physically I can't move that well" - Erik

Elsa looked up at him in surprise, while Erik stared right back at her kept smiling. Eric wanted to kiss her, but he decided he wasn't going to kiss Elsa if she really didn't want to be kissed. So by using his injuries as an excuse, he deferred to Elsa to let her decide if she wanted it or not, while still making it clear that he wanted to.

Elsa's heart which was fluttering suddenly kicked into high gear. Still blushing and a little nervous though, she did not overthink the situation like she had done before. This was a _moment_, and a second chance moment as well that almost nobody ever gets to have after missing the first one. Elsa wasn't about to lose this moment like the first one, so she went for it.

She leaned towards Erik very carefully, and he leaned in the best he could without grimacing in pain. But rather than Elsa turn her cheek to let Erik kiss her there like Erik was thinking, Elsa upped the ante. Before Erik could realize what was going on, Elsa had puckered up and kissed him right on his lips, time slowing down to an absolute standstill for him while to Elsa it was just one swift motion.

When Elsa pulled away, she could see that Erik was genuinely surprised, and he was also blushing so hard he turned as red as a strawberry. What was a casual act of kindness by Elsa had apparently meant the world to Erik, but she was going to play it off cool just because she could.

"You get some rest now, you've had a crazy past couple of weeks" Elsa said, standing up and getting ready to leave

"I'll say" Erik muttered, still aghast but absolutely thrilled and delighted that Elsa kissed him on the lips rather than just lean in to be kissed on the cheek. His heart was doing somersaults in his chest right now, and he couldn't take his eyes off Elsa one bit as she made her way out the door. Although she only agreed to a single date, he was eager to find out what future they would have together, what future _he_ would have in his new home, Arendelle. For the first time in forever, for the first time _ever_, Erik had nothing to fear and was filled entirely with the only things a young adult should ever feel: Hope, optimism, happiness, and a pinch of falling in love as well.

(Camera zooms out from a smiling Erik through the ships' window out to sea, twisting and showing the ship sailing towards Arendelle as happy fluttery music plays in the background before the picture fades to black)

* * *

(4 days earlier)

* * *

A doctor escaped from the roaring blizzard outside into the living room of his house that was converted into a hospital room for a single patient, who the doctor had spent the last 36 hours trying to save. "I must mention once again that your recovery is nothing short of miraculous. Your condition pushed my capabilities as a doctor to the very limit in order to save you... I think you must have had some sort of divine help in coming back... Now that you are awake though, may I ask for your name and what you were doing?"

The patient avoided eye contact with the man who just saved his life. Almost his entire face was mangled beyond recognition, and the rest of his body was not much better off. He stared where the wall met the floor on the other side of the room in a fury, answering the doctor's question through gritted teeth and clenched fists.

"My name is Hector... And I was going to take care of my little brother"

The doctor wrote that down in his notes. "I see... Do you know where he is?"

"I bet I know where he _will be_... And I have a good feeling he'll still be there when I find him..." Hector's anger resided slightly, a small grin sneaked across one half of his face.

* * *

**_...The End... (?)_**


End file.
